eDocBuilder is not the same kind of application as InDesign, and does not behave the same, or support all the same functionality. While using InDesign to create templates using the plugin does save time compared to manually creating master PDFs in Acrobat, you will definitely need to make adjustments to your template after uploading into eDocBuilder. Please see below for some tips for using the InDesign plugin:
1) Grouped Boxes
Select all boxes on each page of the InDesign document and make sure all are ungrouped before uploading the the document to eDocBuilder. Grouped boxes may cause the template to behave unexpectedly.
2) Bleeds
Do not set a bleed in your InDesign file. Create your document to be the size of the finished piece plus the bleed. After importing the document into eDoc, set the bleed on the Template Info tab. Setting the bleed in the InDesign file will cause fields to shift out of position when uploaded into eDoc. A bleed in eDocbuilder behaves differently depending on which type of template you are using, please
see this article for more information.
3) PDF Export Presets
The plugin will use the InDesign PDF preset named "edocbuilder" for settings for any exported PDFs. The plugin will prompt that the preset "edocbuilder" is not available the first time the plugin is used. You can setup or adjust the preset values going to the menu command File > Export in InDesign, setting it for PDF (Print), saving the file and then working with the presets window that will be displayed. Also check the point Export to PDF settings below for further information.
3A) Some older RIPs will not recognize spot colors (such as CutPath or CutContour or ThruCut) properly on newer versions of Acrobat as created by newer versions of InDesign. Please check the documentation of your RIP's version to see what's supported. If you run into issues, try exporting your PDFs from InDesign with a lower "compatibility" version of Acrobat starting with version 6 and working backward until you produce a file that is accepted by your RIP software.
4) Tracking
In eDoc, tracking on the format tab of a field is designed to emulate QuarkXPress measurements. This formula uses the standard kerning value, as defined in the Quark help file. Quark takes the font size and calls that an em space. The kerning is 1/200 of the em space. So to convert this to a value the system uses this formula: (fontsize/200)*kerning. InDesign measures tracking in 1/1000 em, not 1/200 em like Quark. Therefore the formula would be (fontsize/1000)*tracking if you are taking the value from InDesign. You may need to adjust your tracking in eDoc.
5) Leading
Set the leading of the first line of text in your InDesign document to zero. This will prevent your text from shifting down in the field after uploading it into eDocBuilder.
6) Field Size
InDesign will allow text to go past the field size, eDocBuilder does not. For example, if you create a field that is 10pts high, InDesign allows you to enter in 12 pt font in the field. When uploaded into eDoc, the system will either force fit the text within the field or no text will show. If you see changes in your font size or kerning, check to make sure that your field is tall enough to accommodate your font size plus leading. Also, check that you do not have "Force Fit" turned on. This setting is found on the Format tab of the field in eDocBuilder. If this is turned on, it will compress the text to fit within the field - shrinking the font size, kerning and leading.
7) Field types
Do Not Use Check Boxes, Combo Boxes, List Boxes, Buttons, Radio Buttons or Signature Fields.
8) Default text
Please note that at this time rich text and Unicode plain text is not supported with the InDesign plugin.
9) Fonts
The plugin will upload fonts that are available as installed font files on your local drive in a supported format. However, if your InDesign file uses font types that are unsupported by eDoc, then the font will not be imported. Fonts must be in Open Type (.otf), True Type (.ttf), or Type 1 (.pfm + .pfb) format to be used by eDoc. Software such as Adobe TypeKit may allow you to use fonts that are not in supported file types and not available on your local drive. To use any fonts in eDocBuilder, they must be accessible as installed font files on your local hard drive.
10) Export to PDF settings
The plugin makes use of the PDF export settings in InDesign. It will use the settings from the last time you exported to a PDF from that document InDesign. Make sure that your PDF export settings do not include any bleed settings and that it is set to export all pages. Do not use the Range setting on this window, use export all pages. Having your document open and going to InDesign menu item File > Export and choosing a PDF format will show you the window with the PDF export settings. Note that PDF (Print) is the recommended format, as PDF (Interactive) may change color values in the exported PDF to RGB values.
11) Changing the name for an existing template in InDesign
Changing the name of the template when using Upload Template will not create a new template, it will change the existing template name on the eDocBuilder template in your account. Using the Upload as New command from the eDocBuilder palette flyout menu will allow you to create a new template with a new name. In eDocBuilder a template's name does not have to be unique, and you can have multiple templates with the same name.
12) The InDesign document is linked to the last template it was uploaded to
When an InDesign document has been uploaded to an eDocBuilder template using the Upload Template command from the eDocBuilder floating palette flyout menu, then that InDesign document is linked to the eDocBuilder template going forward via a unique identifier that is invisible to the user. The association between the InDesign document and the eDocBuilder template is saved if the InDesign document is saved. If the Upload as New command from the eDocBuilder floating palette is used, that will let you create a new template from that document, but the InDesign document will then be associated to that new template going forward. We recommend saving copies of your document at each stage of making revsions, to be able to reload the version of the document as it was prior to uploading the document for the first time.
13) Making changes to templates already uploaded
The plugin for InDesign is intended as a way to get templates started on eDocBuilder. The eDocBuilder plugin does not necessarily allow for making successive changes to the document, and uploading those changes to an existing template, after the first time that document is uploaded. Attempting to upload over an existing template may or may not work, and if it does work, it will reset that template's fields to the default settings for those fields. The InDesign plugin is not able to know or set all the settings used on the template in eDocBuilder. You will need to check and reset the settings on each field after reuploading the template from InDesign.
14) Cropped images
Make sure that any image files are cropped in the source file to what should be visible on the template. When working in InDesign, it is possible to place an image into an image box, and then crop an area of that image to be visible in the document. The entire image remains placed in the document, but only a portion of that image is showing on the page. eDocBuilder does not support partially-cropped images, and any images used in eDocBuilder need to be placed with the entire visible image area showing on the field in the document before uploading that document to an eDocBuilder template. eDocBuilder is going to fit the whole image to the field when updating the template, and there is no way to set a specific crop area on the eDocBuilder template.
15) Better Field Alignment and Positioning
The way that InDesign and eDocBuilder interpret the baseline of a font differs. For example, InDesign interprets a bottom-align as anchored at the font's baseline (for example, the bottom of the letter "m"). eDocBuilder interprets a bottom-align as the font's descender's baseline (for example, the bottom of the letter "g"). This means to get more accurate field positioning on a template, the best option is to use a top alignment because both InDesign and eDocBuilder use the ascender height of a font for top-align. The field formatting will always need to be set in the format tab of the field since the text alignment formatting from InDesign will not transfer into the eDocBuilder template's field formatting. eDocBuilder will recognize the height of the fields as set in the InDesign document and apply the manually chosen text alignment.
16) Outlined Text and Vector Box Frames
InDesign allows for creating frames from outlined text or imported vector graphics. These sorts of frames are great for designing interesting documents, but may cause an error when uploading a document to an eDocBuilder template. If you do have outlined text or vector frames or boxes in your InDesign document as part of the static art on the page, you may need to simplify the document if you are seeing any errors when uploading using the eDocBuilder plugin. To simplify the document, save a new version of the document and delete any of the elements that are going to be dynamic in the eDocBuilder template, leaving only the static boxes in the page design. You could also hide the layers with the dynamic frame boxes so that only the static artwork is showing on the document. Then use the File > Export command to create a single EPS file of the static artwork. Then place the exported EPS back into your original document in a single frame box and delete the outlined frame boxes on the page. Frame boxes tagged with the eDocBuilder plugin can only be rectangular or square in shape, and any outlined text or vector frame boxes should be simplified in this manner if you are seeing errors when uploading.
17) Field User Control type – Dropdown
In the InDesign plugin, the option of dropdown for the field user control type is not available. The data entered into a text box will be available in that field when the template is uploaded, but the field itself must be set to be a dropdown manually under the Field Setup > Data Capture area of the field in the uploaded template.
18) Keep any tagged text and images boxes on the document area and not the pasteboard
On any InDesign document, there is a gray space around the page that text or image boxes can be placed on, so that those text and image boxes are available in the document, but do not actually appear on the page content of the document. This pasteboard space is intended for holding elements that do not need to appear on any pages, and is useful when editing InDesign documents. The eDocBuilder plugin has no concept of the pasteboard, it just creates an exported PDF from the InDesign document when uploading to a template, and a PDF file has no concept of the pasteboard. Tagged text or picture boxes that exist on the pasteboard will not be included in the template that is created when uploading the document to a template on eDocBuilder. Make sure that any text or picture boxes that you tag as eDocBuilder fields exist on the document surface, and are not on the pasteboard.
GOOD: The three fields in this image are on the document surface and will upload as expected when creating the template.
BAD: The three fields on this document are on the pasteboard. These fields will not be included in the template created in eDocBuilder.