Best File Management Practices when you have thousands of Files

Question

We publish over 100+ textbooks and growing (1-color, 2-color, 4-color) maninly designed in CorelDraw & Indesign with associated Image and Font Files. We also have merged multipage PDF & EPS files that we send to our offset printers.Also, some Image files are exclusive to a project while some are shared across projects.

What are the best practices to follow when it comes to management of these files? We are always working on multiple versions of the same files and often with multiple DTP operators.

Right now it is all on a Shared Drive with Individual Folders but that always creates confusion in identifying the latest version of the file and some users save the file to some other folder. Security of the Data is another issue as we work with a lot of freelancers also.

How do big design studios and publishing houses handle versioning, collaboration and the associated files with a project neatly? Do they use a CMS / Document Management System?

Answer 1

I'd look into "proper" version control. For example Git can work well for creatives (here's an old, but relevant intro). You can also google "Git for designers".

Built on top of Git something like Folio is tailor made for visual designers, although I haven't used it myself. It looks like it hides some of the scarier/command line aspects of Git out of the way!

Having said all that, another player in the version control for designers sphere: http://pixelapse.com/ was bought out by Dropbox who integrated their technology, so perhaps Dropbox is all you actually need?

By the way, I code more than I design (boo!) so I'm very familiar with version control, although I use Subversion (and Beanstalk) for code versioning and deployment, and I don't actually have a need to version design files (although I do back them up with versions to S3).

Answer 2

At this stage you may need a DAM (Digital Asset Management solution) solution where users can upload assets, tag them with keywords and use those later. Some products offer connection plugins so you can use a picture stored in the DAM within InDesign with an external link. So if the asset is edited, you will be able to update it within InDesign.

There are many solutions on the market. That could be one of those archimag.com/article/panorama-des-solutions-dam (French link sorry)

Also consider Elvis DAM