Adobe InCopy is a writing and copy-editing application for Windows and macOS, available through a paid Creative Cloud subscription. It lets writers and editors prepare text for publications while designers work on the page layout in Adobe InDesign. Editors can see how their copy occupies the designed page, adjust its wording and typography, and review changes within the same production workflow.
How InCopy shares stories with InDesign
InCopy works with stand-alone documents and with content linked to an InDesign publication. In a linked workflow, the designer makes stories available for editing, either through an InDesign document or an assignment containing selected content and its layout context. A publication can contain several separate stories, which InCopy presents as individually expandable sections in its text views.
Checking content out reserves it for the person editing it; checking it back in releases it for other contributors. This allows the editor to revise an assigned story while the designer continues work elsewhere in the publication. The workflow also carries updated copy into InDesign and lets the editor receive changes to the design.
Adobe InCopy can change the assigned text and its formatting, but the designer controls text frames, columns and the sequence through which text flows. InCopy displays those elements so an editor can work within the available space. InDesign establishes and manages the links between the content and layout.
Story, Galley and Layout views
Three views expose different aspects of the same story. Story view wraps text to the editing window, giving the writer a continuous stream of copy. Galley view retains the line endings from the InDesign layout while presenting the text in one column. It also marks page, frame and column breaks, making it possible to inspect where copy crosses those boundaries.
Layout view shows the formatted story alongside the publication’s graphics, frames and other page elements. Editors can move between a text-focused view and the designed spread without maintaining separate drafts. Changing the display font or spacing in Galley and Story views affects reading comfort; applying text formatting changes the actual publication.
Copyfitting
Adobe InCopy measures text against the space assigned to it. The Copyfit Info toolbar reports lines, words, characters and vertical depth as the story changes. Its progress display distinguishes spare space from overflow and reports how much copy must be added or removed to fit.
Overflow remains accessible in Galley and Story views, where a break marks the point beyond the available layout space. An editor can shorten a passage below that break using the same text tools as the rest of the story. Layout view shows the portion that fits and reports the excess through the copyfit display. A stand-alone document can also have a specified depth against which its text is measured.
Formatting typed and imported copy
Paragraph styles apply a collection of paragraph and character settings to selected paragraphs. Character styles apply particular formatting to a smaller text range. InCopy also provides controls for typography such as kerning, hyphenation and line breaks, allowing copy adjustments to account for the shape of the printed text.
Writers can type directly or bring in Word, RTF, plain-text and other InCopy content. Import options decide whether incoming formatting is retained or removed. Word styles can be mapped to existing InCopy styles, so a manuscript’s headings and body text can use the publication’s established formatting. Local formatting overrides can be identified and cleared. In linked stories, InDesign remains the source of style definitions; changes to those definitions in InCopy can be replaced when the linked content updates.
Tracked changes and editorial notes
Change tracking records inserted, deleted and moved text. Markup appears in Galley and Story views, with contributor colors and change bars helping distinguish edits. Tracking can continue while the editor works in Layout view, although that view does not display the markup. Review controls accept or reject individual changes, portions of changes, or a broader set of edits.
Editorial notes provide space for questions and comments at a particular text position. They appear inline in the text views and as anchors connected to the Notes panel in Layout view. The panel identifies the author and modification details. Notes attached to linked stories also appear in InDesign, giving the designer access to the discussion around the copy.
Building tables in Layout view
In Layout view, InCopy can insert a table with specified rows and columns, convert separated text into cells, or import an editable table from Word or Excel. Text conversion uses chosen row and column separators, while spreadsheet import can select a worksheet and cell range.
Tables flow with the surrounding story as text is added or removed. Header and footer rows can repeat when a table continues into another frame or page, keeping column labels attached to a longer table’s data.
PDF proofs
Adobe InCopy can export a PDF that preserves the designed page or one that resembles the Galley and Story text views. The text-oriented output can include line numbers, accurate line endings, editorial notes and tracked changes for review outside InCopy. Layout export retains the page composition and can turn notes into PDF annotations, except for notes within tables.
For editable text exchange, content can also be saved as RTF or plain text. InCopy’s own content format keeps stories available to the linked publication workflow, while templates store a starting setup for future stand-alone documents.
