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jeffreyp6484616
August 25, 2015

Batch create .article files?

  • August 25, 2015
  • 2 replies
  • 9236 views

Since you can't batch update the files in a folio any longer from within InDesign, is it possible to batch create .article files, preferably from the book palate? (Export as PDF doesn't give the option, at least in CC 2014.)

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2 replies

Adobe Employee
August 25, 2015

Hi,

You could do this via InDesign scripting.

This sample script will ask you to select a folder and will then generate .article files for all the Indd files in that folder.

You may need to modify this script for your environment and setup.

var srcFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Please select path to the InDesign files"); // get source folder

srcFolderContents = srcFolder.getFiles("*.indd"); // get a list indd file

for (var i = 0, n = srcFolderContents.length; i != n; i=i+1) // for each indd file create an article

{

   var articleName = srcFolder + "/" + srcFolderContents[i].name.replace(".indd",".article");

   var doc = app.open(srcFolderContents[i], false);

   var dpsArticleP= [

    [ "assetformat", "pdf"],           // pdf, png, jpg or auto (auto chooses between png and jpg)

    [ "showprogressbar", false ]     

       ];

    app.exportDpsArticle (File(articleName), doc, dpsArticleP); // export article

    doc.close;

}

August 25, 2015

Is this script able to work with inDesign files in sub-folders as generated by the script available here:

Rapidly create folios using a PDF-to-InDesign script | Adobe Developer Connection

August 26, 2015

Challenge accepted Here's a modified version of Rupert's script that loops through the first level of subfolders in your selected starting folder and generates a .article file from the .indd files inside those folders. The resulting .article file is saved into the subfolder.

var srcFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Please select path to the InDesign files"); // get source folder

srcSubfolders = srcFolder.getFiles(onlyFolders);

for (var i = 0, n = srcSubfolders.length; i != n; i=i+1)
{
    srcFolderContents = srcSubfolders[i].getFiles("*.indd"); // get a list indd file
    for (var j = 0, m = srcFolderContents.length; j != m; j=j+1) // for each indd file create an article
    {
       var articleName = srcFolder + "/" + srcSubfolders[i].name + "/" + srcFolderContents[j].name.replace(".indd",".article");
       var doc = app.open(srcFolderContents[j], false);
       var dpsArticleP= [
        [ "assetformat", "pdf"],           // pdf, png, jpg or auto (auto chooses between png and jpg)
        [ "showprogressbar", false ]     
           ];

        app.exportDpsArticle (File(articleName), doc, dpsArticleP); // export article
        doc.close;
    }
}

function onlyFolders(f) {
  if (f.constructor.name == "File") {
    return false;
  } else {
    return true;
  }

Neil


Thanks Neil!

I'm testing as I type this and it seems to be working!

The only thing I'm noticing at the moment is that all the indd files have lock files (as they do when a user opens the file) and the lock files are remaining in place while the script continues to loop through the rest of the folders.

At the moment I don't know if this is good or bad. Just something curious. Do you think it's leaving the files open in the background until the loop ends? I see the doc.close; statement so it should be closing them.

Just wondering if it is something that can be tweaked or if it's nothing to worry about. I'm testing on CS6 BTW if that helps.

Adobe Employee
October 20, 2015

Hi,

The documentation for the InDesign API (Extendscript) for exporting articles (and uploading them into DPS) can be found here:

* https://helpx.adobe.com/digital-publishing-solution/help/integrating-dps.html

-Klaasjan