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jeffreyp6484616
Level 2
August 25, 2015

Batch create .article files?

  • August 25, 2015
  • 2 replies
  • 9253 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;

}

Level 4
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

Adobe Employee
August 26, 2015

The script looped successfully and created a corresponding .article file for every inDesign file using CS6.

However the lock files remain and:

- If a user on the same computer that ran the script double clicks one of the inDesign files, the file opens normally--then manually closing the inDesign file will cause the lock file to go away.

- If a user on a computer other than the computer that ran the script double clicks one of the inDesign files (which are on a local server), the inDesign file will not open (as expected) and we get the message regarding someone else using the file.

The copy of inDesign on the "source" computer does not show any open documents.

Almost there! This script will be very very helpful to many folks once it is tweaked.


The lock file issue is because the doc isn't actually closed. Change line 14 from "doc.close;" to "doc.close();" and that will clear that up.

franciscon89715259‌ the script worked fine in with my install. Are you certain the DPS plug-ins are installed?

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