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Dan Rodney/2 min read

Recommended Preferences & Setting Defaults

InCopy Workflow Setup

1

Designer Sets Up

Designer creates the InDesign layout with named text frames.

2

Export Assignments

File → Assignments → New — bundles frames for the editor.

3

Editor Opens InCopy

Editor checks out content, writes within the layout's constraints.

4

Check In Updates

Designer sees real-time text changes flow into the InDesign layout.

Master InDesign at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Graphic Design Certificate covers InDesign — the layout app that pairs with InCopy for editorial workflows.

Understand the process of adjusting InCopy's preferences and default settings to enhance your workflow, including closing open files, accessing the preferences window, modifying units and increments, enabling dynamic spelling, changing display performance, and altering clipboard handling.

Recommended Preferences & Setting Defaults

Setting Preferences

We like to change some of InCopy’s default Preferences. Before changing your default settings, you should check with a system administrator to see if they have specific settings they’ve chosen for your workflow.

  1. If you have any files open, close them all.

  2. To open the Preferences window, go into:

    Mac: InCopy > Preferences > Type
    Windows: Edit > Preferences > Type
  3. Check on Apply Leading to Entire Paragraphs.
  4. On the left, click on the Units & Increments section.

  5. Change the Keyboard Increments to:

    Size/Leading: 1 pt
    Baseline Shift: 1 pt
    Kerning: 5

    NOTE: A Kerning and Tracking amount of 5 in InCopy and InDesign is equal to 1 in QuarkXPress. So Quark’s 1,2, 3 is equal to InCopy/InDesign’s 5,10,15.

  6. On the left, click on the Spelling section.
  7. Check on Enable Dynamic Spelling if it’s not already checked.
  8. On the left, click on the Display Performance section.
  9. Change Greek Type Below to 0 pt.
  10. Next to Adjust View Settings, change the menu from Typical to High Quality.
  11. Again change Greek Type Below to 0 pt.
  12. On the left, click on the Clipboard Handling section.
  13. If you want to maintain formatting (such as bold, italic, etc.) when you copy and paste from Microsoft Word, then under Paste, check on All Information.

  14. Click OK.

Changing Defaults (Such As Fonts, Hyphenation, Etc.)

  1. If you have any files open, close them all.

    Any change you make now will be a default for future files you create. For instance, maybe you want to change your default font for the Layout view and turn on hyphenation. Here’s how…

  2. To change the default font, go to Type > Font and choose your desired font.

  3. To turn off hyphenation by default, go to the Paragraph panel (Type > Paragraph).

  4. Uncheck Hyphenate. (If you don’t see this option, go into the panel menu panel menu, choose Hyphenation, then uncheck Hyphenate.)