Automatically merge individual .indd files

Question

First some background info:

I work for a medium sized publisher, which works with licenses from external companies. We receive english InDesign files, and translate them into our native language.

We work with some of the biggest publishers in the world, but also smaller ones. That means we get a lot of different files based on the workflow and procedures of that company.

Here's the problem. Some of the files we receive are sent to us spread by spread. Basically that means we get 82 seperate files, which we manually have to merge together to one document. We have well over 300 publishes per year, so it is a lot of work for us.

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Then to the real question:

Is there a way to automatically merge a series of documents, in order, to one InDesign file? Using a script or any other way. We have no issues with paying for someone to make such a script, so if you or someone you know has the experience – let me know.

I appreciate all help I can get!

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, there is this script by Simon Wiscombe that should do exactly what you want.

To run the script, in InDesign go to Windows > Utilities > Scripts to open the Scripts panel. There, right click on the User folder and Reveal in Finder/Explorer. Drag the script there. Now it shows up in your Scripts panel and you can just double click it to use it. If you have to use it frequently you can assign a dedicated keyboard shortcut to it.

If you have more specific needs (if often happens when using scripts for such tasks or rather: once you automate one step, you realize that many more steps could be automated) your best option would be to hire someone for this. There are a few people here that have the experience, including me, so if the above script won't work for you, let us know.