Adobe InCopy 2024
(4.5/5)
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS
Price: Free Trial or $4.99/month (annual plan) /$7.49/month (monthly plan) /$59.88/year (prepaid)
VERDICT: Adobe InCopy is a word processing program that integrates with Adobe InDesign. InCopy enables interaction between content developers and designers who use InDesign.
The designer can work with the page layout while the author simultaneously creates or edits content. Also, InCopy includes management tools to control which part of the project each team member is working on. The program is available as part of Adobe Creative Cloud.
Adobe InCopy pleases users with plenty of features that add convenience to the workflow. Using font search and filtering, you can find the exact font you are looking for. Using Sync fonts, you can add new fonts from the Adobe Typekit library.
In addition, if you wish to extend the functionality of InCopy, you can search for Adobe Exchange extensions, plugins and templates from the convenient panel in the program.
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Complete Adobe InCopy Review
InCopy is a remarkable word processing program that is integrated with InDesign and simplifies collaboration. Adobe InCopy is capable of manipulating text without affecting the layout of the publication.
This way the author, editor or proofreader gains control over the text, and the designer gains control over the page’s appearance. Besides, they can work on one document simultaneously (for instance, when using a local network).
So, if you are working on an InDesign project with a team or independently, InCopy is a great tool and worth trying.
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Clear Interface
Adobe InCopy now boasts a completely new stylish, modern and user-friendly interface. Tools and palettes/panels feature new icons. It is possible to customize the interface according to the user’s preferences by selecting one of the four available color themes: dark (as you can see in the picture above), medium-dark, medium-light or light.
Great Productivity
InCopy enables users to be productive, fast and efficient no matter the task and the time when the project has to be completed. With the newly introduced Quick Apply feature, users can apply text styles and don’t remove the hands from the keyboard.
You can clearly see that developers have put a lot of thought into making the workflow as swift as possible. One more helpful feature is automatic text macros that expand short text strings, like “ic”, into lengthier portions of text. As for the automated bullets and numbering, they simplify the writer’s workflow.
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Many Different Tools
In this Adobe InCopy review, I can’t help but mention a favorite feature of mine – Application frame. It was the standard view in the Windows version. With this feature, it is possible to enclose all the program’s panels and documents in one window in order to eliminate distracting background elements. This will simplify the working process and make it clearer.
With the Application bar’s control buttons at hand, users may effortlessly alter the document view and switch between numerous commands to organize various open documents.
New Menu Items
The newly introduced Workspace Switcher drop-down menu is meant for a quick choice of a task-specific working area from a variety of them. You may try changing from the standard working area to a custom table-editing one that will showcase only those menus and panels necessary for editing tables.
The Links panel showcases thumbnail pictures of files. It has been improved and now provides detailed, editable data about linked files, such as the date of creation and last modification, the name of the user who was the last to modify the story, the status of all modifications and so on. When this info is easily accessible, file management won’t bring you any difficulties.
Convenient Work with Fonts
It is possible to narrow the font search area by filtering them via criteria (for instance, serif, sans-serif or handwritten).
In Adobe InCopy, you may also search for fonts based on visual similarity. The fonts that are most similar to the desired font are displayed at the top of the search results. The status bar in the font menu contains info about applied filters.
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Parallel Workflow
Thanks to the joint design workflow, one person may design a page, a chapter or a spread in a layout application and then wait for an editor or writer to complete the copy. Once it is done, the text is being imported in to the layout application.
In case the copy requires a small edit at a short notice, the editor will be waiting for the designer to complete the work in the layout application. Only after that, it will be possible to make the edit.
In the same way, when the designer has to make such edits to the layout, they will be waiting for the editor to complete the file. This process seems to be incessant and is a pain in the neck for everyone involved. With this ineffective linear approach, people have to constantly wait for each other. The bottom line is that it slows down the entire publishing process.
Page Visualization
Many editors and writers admire InCopy for the ability to visualize pages and see the final layout. The majority of similar programs don’t provide users with such an opportunity. It means that they pretty much work blindly and are unable to see how the text will look like when aligned with the layout.
As I have already mentioned, InCopy has tight integration with InDesign. So, the former software is capable of displaying the layout of the page the writer is currently working on, with all the line, column and page breaks, copy fit statistics and text wrap visible.
See different breaks by going to the Galley view. If you wish to see the relevant InDesign layout along with text flow and graphics, go to the Layout view. To make the most out of visualizing pages, InCopy and InDesign integrate for each participant to see all the updates made to text stories or layout, even if this is a layout they are currently editing as well.
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Reverse Spell-Check
Missing a spelling error during a manual check won’t be a problem. You are given an opportunity to indicate an order or direction according to which InDesign will be searching for errors in the document. The Check spelling dialog has been expanded and now provides two more options – Forward and Backward. Use them to undo a certain step and correct the spelling error.
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No Way to Globally Accept/Reject Document Changes
One of the drawbacks of Adobe InCopy is its inability to approve or dismiss document changes at a global scale. It is possible to do it only story by story. When the document contains 20+ stories, such a feature will be a really time-saving one. One more thing I would improve is the notes feature in the Layout view.
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Unsuitable for Newbies
Despite the intuitive interface, InCopy may seem complicated to newbies. The reason for this is the huge number of available functions. Therefore, for regular users, I recommend considering something simpler, such as Google Docs or even Microsoft Word.
Adobe InCopy Price
To use Adobe InCopy for free, get a 30-day trial. Once it is over, you can purchase the program through the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Here are the prices of a single-app subscription to InCopy:
- $4.99/month (annual plan)
- $7.49/month (monthly plan)
- $59.88/yr (prepaid)
In case you decide to subscribe to the “All Apps” plan, apart from InCopy, you will get 100 GB of cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts and Adobe Spark. Also, you will be able to take advantage of all the programs of the Creative Cloud package, like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign and 16 more.
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Ann Young
Hi there, I'm Ann Young - a professional blogger, read more
