Improving Working with Large Documents and Large Projects in Adobe InDesign

When you create a large catalog encompassing several hundred pages, paying attention to a few things will help to make the project run more smoothly. We’ve put together six essential tips to help you deal with larger documents while avoiding pitfalls.

1. Limit the size of each document.
   Create documents that are each smaller than 100 pages long. Adobe InDesign loads smaller files faster and keeps all pages in the main memory of your computer at the same time. Lighter documents load faster and are easier to deal with. This increases the performance and stability of Adobe InDesign.


2. Use the Book feature in Adobe InDesign.
   When you start your InDesign project, create a Book file when you create your first document. (Open InDesign and click on File > New > Book.) Using a Book file pays off as soon as multiple documents are bound into one book — synchronizing page numbers, character styles, paragraph styles, table styles, cell styles, and object styles across your Book file becomes simpler. The book feature also supports you to generate a table of contents and create links between the documents.


3. Place the book file in the Adobe Cloud.
   Place the book file in the Adobe Cloud if you are working on distributed documents at the same time. Putting your project in the cloud allows you to synchronize styles across time, space, and network boundaries. All documents will then have the same style definitions, too.


4. Use “Save as …” instead of “Save.”
   When you save changes to your document, use the “Save as …” command now and then instead of “Save.” Using “Save as …” will significantly reduce the file size of your InDesign documents because the document will be completely rewritten. “Save” preserves the old page and object versions of the document’s internal structure, adding the new versions at the end of the file. Only “Save as …” rewrites all internal file references to clean up the file.


5. Activate the preflight function only if required and reduce the display quality of images
   Switch on the InDesign preflight function only if you want to check your document for potential errors. Otherwise, leave the preflight function switched off. This will significantly reduce the processor load and help InDesign to keep several large documents in the main memory at the same time. If you also reduce the display quality of graphics, you can switch between the pages of the current document much faster and work more smoothly.


6. Turn off “Search for missing links.”
   Disable the check for missing links (images/graphics) in the InDesign default settings. This eliminates the annoying wait when opening the document, as it does not check if all image files are actually present.