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Follow the Recommended InDesign Plugin Workflow ​

The InDesign plugin guides you through a standard workflow: open a Publication Item, work on it in InDesign, check that links are intact, and upload your changes back to Relayter.

Open a Publication Item ​

  1. In the Relayter InDesign plugin panel, navigate to the Campaign or Project containing your Publication.
  2. Select the Publications section.
  3. Open the Publication and select the step containing your item (for example, Layout or Review).
  4. Find the Publication Item you want to work on and click Open.
  5. The plugin downloads the InDesign source file and any linked assets used in the document.
  6. InDesign opens the document automatically. You can now edit the layout.

Work on the layout ​

Once the document is open in InDesign, you can:

The plugin monitors changes to the files you added yourself as attachments. If you replace or modify one of these files locally, the plugin will notify you when you upload (see Upload your changes below).

Changes to assets from Relayter's DAM are not uploaded from InDesign. To update one of these assets, update it in Relayter and then open the Publication Item in the plugin again to download the updated asset. See Understand linked asset status.

Before uploading, click Check Links in the Publication Item panel. The plugin checks the files linked in your document against the Publication Item in Relayter and:

  • Offers to upload files that are not in Relayter yet, for example images you dragged into the layout, as attachments.
  • Offers to upload attachments you edited on your computer after they were uploaded.
  • Asks which file to keep when a file has the same name as an existing attachment but is a different file.
  • Lists attachments that are no longer used in your layout and asks whether to delete them from the Publication Item.

The plugin also runs most of these checks automatically when the links in your document change. The exception is the list of unused attachments, which only appears when you click Check Links. It is good practice to click Check Links before every upload, so that nothing is missing for your team members. Add DAM Assets and Manage Links in InDesign explains each of these dialogs.

Check Links does not look at assets from Relayter's DAM. The plugin never uploads changes to those assets; update them in Relayter instead.

Then verify that all images are linked correctly in InDesign:

  1. Go to Window → Links to open the Links panel.
  2. Look for any warnings or error icons. These are InDesign's own link statuses, and indicate missing or modified files.
  3. If you see a missing link (red icon), the image file cannot be found. Troubleshoot Missing Images in InDesign explains how to recover or replace the missing file.
  4. If you see a modified link (yellow icon), the file was changed on your computer. InDesign shows this icon for any linked file, including Relayter assets. Only attachments you added yourself can be uploaded from InDesign.

Upload your changes ​

  1. In the Relayter InDesign plugin panel, click Upload (or the equivalent action for your workflow step).
  2. The plugin exports the document to IDML format and creates a preview.
  3. Both the source and preview are uploaded to Relayter.
  4. Once complete, your work is saved and the item moves to the next step in the Workflow (depending on your workflow configuration).

If the plugin detects modified attachments (files you added yourself and edited locally), it will show a dialog asking:

  • Upload and link to Relayter — uploads your edited file to the Publication Item, so team members get your changes.
  • Use and keep them local — keeps your local edits without uploading them to Relayter (the source file still uploads, but locally edited files are not stored in Relayter).

This only applies to attachments. See Handle modified attachments.

Choose based on your team's workflow. If in doubt, ask your team lead.

Close the document ​

Once you've uploaded, you can close the document in InDesign. The plugin will clean up local files as needed. If you're done working on the item, move on to the next item in the Publication.