Installation
Double-click the file and the panel is in InDesign.
- Install the plugin like the other Zalesky Workflow plugins – just
double-click the
.ccxfile. - In InDesign, open File › Smart Packager (right below Package), or Plugins › Zalesky Workflow › Smart Packager.
- Dock the panel wherever you like. It remembers all your options.
The plugin adds its File menu item by itself every time InDesign starts; there is nothing else to install. If you open the panel with no document open, it waits and fills in as soon as you open one.
A new document that has never been saved to disk cannot be packaged – the panel shows Save the document first. at the top. Saving it once is enough.
How it works
Everything happens on a copy. Your document does not change.
InDesign's own File › Package can only package the whole document. Smart Packager first makes a working copy of the document exactly as you have it open, and only in that copy removes the pages you did not choose. It then exports the PDF from the copy and lets InDesign create the package.
Spreads stay as they were. If you choose pages 1, 4, 5, 9,
the packaged document has exactly four pages: page 1 on its own, the
original spread 4|5 and page 9 on its own. Nothing gets reshuffled and
pages from different spreads are never joined. If that were to happen
anyway, packaging stops rather than producing something you did not ask
for.
Your open document stays unchanged the whole time. The only exception is Save and close source document after successful completion – and even that happens only once everything has finished without an error.
The panel
All options in one panel: the document at the top, the Package button at the bottom.
- 1Document. The name of the document that will be packaged and, during the trial, the days left.
- 2Selection mode and presets. How you want to choose pages, and your saved sets of options.
- 3Page list. Click the pages you want to package. The Previews button shows them as pictures.
- 4Package contents. Everything that goes into the package, including the PDF.
- 5Output. Where the package goes, what it is called and what happens when it is done.
- 6Links. Whether the document has missing or modified links.
- 7Reload and Package. ↻ reloads the panel for the currently active document, Package starts packaging.
Choosing pages
Six ways to say which pages you want.
| Mode | What gets packaged |
|---|---|
| Select from list | The pages you tick in the list |
| Enter page range | Pages by a typed range, for example 1-4, 7, 10-12 |
| Pages by section | All pages of one document section |
| Current page | The page you are on in InDesign right now |
| Current spread | The whole spread you are on right now |
| All pages | The whole document |
List
Click anywhere in a row to add or remove that page. Hold Shift to select a continuous run from the page you clicked last. Below the list you see how many pages are selected and which ones.
The list shows page positions 1, 2, 3…. Turn on
Show InDesign page names to see InDesign's page names instead,
including the section prefix (I, II,
A-01…). The selection stays the same; only its labels
change.
Previews
The Previews button above the list shows the pages as small pictures, grouped into spreads the way they are in the document. Click a preview to select the page, just like in the list. Previews are made only on request and only for the pages currently in view, so they never slow the panel down. A thin bar above them shows how many are done.
Range
A range uses the position of pages in the document, not their
names. 1-4 is always the first four pages, even if they are
called i–iv in the document.
Section
For each section the menu shows its name and its first and last page, so you know right away what you are choosing.
Selected pages, range and section come back when you return to the document. Only for the same document with the same number of pages – otherwise the selection could land on different pages.
Presets
Save the options you use often under a name.
The panel always remembers the last options you used – that is the Last settings item in the Presets menu. If you package in different ways again and again (for the printer with a PDF, for a designer with IDML and a ZIP), save each one as a preset.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| + | Saves the current panel options under a name you enter |
| Choosing from the menu | The preset applies immediately and stays selected after InDesign restarts |
| − | Deletes the selected preset |
The package name is not stored in a preset – it always comes from the document you are packaging. You can move presets to another computer in Settings (Settings transfer).
Package contents
Everything that goes into the package.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Separate package for each selected spread | Each selected spread gets its own package in its own subfolder. Works when all pages are selected, too. |
| Package linked INDD files | InDesign documents placed as graphics are packaged too, each in its own folder. The same goes for documents placed inside them. |
| Copy linked graphics | Images and other links are copied into the Links folder |
| Update graphics links in package | The packaged document points to the copies in Links, not to the originals. Only available with Copy linked graphics on. |
| Include fonts | Used fonts are copied into the Document fonts folder |
| Include IDML | An IDML file is added next to the INDD for older versions of InDesign |
| Clean copy pasteboard | Objects left on the pasteboard are deleted in the packaged copy. Your document stays as it is. |
InDesign never copies Adobe Fonts into a package – the licence does not allow it. Whoever opens the package has to activate them themselves.
A PDF of the selected pages only – one or two of them.
With Create PDF on, the package gets a PDF made with the preset you choose in the menu. It contains only the selected pages: choose two pages out of ten and the PDF has two pages.
Create second PDF adds one more PDF with a different preset and a
suffix in its name, for example a print flyer.pdf and a proof
flyer_proof.pdf. Set the suffix in Second PDF filename
suffix; the default is _proof.
With Package linked INDD files on, each of those gets its PDF as well.
Output
Where the package goes and what happens when it is done.
Destination folder
package folder next to document saves the package into a
package folder next to your document, creating it if needed.
Another destination folder sends the package anywhere else – pick
the folder with Browse….
Favorite folders
Save folders you package to often as favorites – up to eight. The ☆ star next to Browse… saves the folder you have entered; the filled ★ removes it from favorites again. After that, just pick it from the Favorite folders… menu. Rename, reorder or change the path in Settings.
Favorite folders are saved on this computer only. Before packaging the panel checks that the folder exists – a network drive that is not connected is reported right away.
Package name
The panel suggests a name based on what you are packaging:
| Selection | Suggested name |
|---|---|
| All pages | flyer |
| Selected pages, range, section | flyer_selected_pages |
| Current page | flyer_04 |
| Current spread | flyer_04-05 |
Once you type your own name, the panel leaves it alone. If a folder of the
same name already exists at the destination, the new one gets
_2, _3… at the end – nothing is overwritten.
When finished
| Open folder when finished | The finished package opens in Explorer or Finder |
| Create ZIP after packaging | A ZIP of the same name appears next to the folder. The folder stays. |
| Save and close source document after successful completion | Once everything has finished without an error, your document is saved and closed |
The ZIP is stored without compression so it is quick to make – it may not be smaller than the folder. Before it is finished, the panel reads the whole archive again and checks every file. If the ZIP fails, the package is still complete and the panel tells you why.
Links
Better to find a missing image before packaging than after.
When the panel opens, it checks the document's links. While the check is running the Package button is grey – with thousands of links it takes a moment, but the panel keeps working meanwhile.
When everything is fine you see All links are current. If the document has missing or modified links, the panel says so and offers two choices:
| Update available links and continue | Modified links are updated in the copy; missing ones stay missing |
| Continue without updating | Packages everything as it is |
Packaging progress
You always see what is happening.
Where possible the panel also counts inside a step – while checking links
or removing pages you see something like 120/340. InDesign
creates the package itself in one go and does not report progress per
file; at that point only the clock moves.
Cancel stops packaging after the step that is running – InDesign finishes that one. The unfinished output stays marked as incomplete (see What you get).
At the end the panel shows where to find the package and, if you made one, the path to the ZIP. If something fails, it tells you why.
What you get
One new folder named after the package, for example flyer_selected_pages.
- flyer.indd
- The document with the selected pages only, spreads as in the original. It has the same name as your document.
- flyer.idml
- With Include IDML on
- flyer.pdf · flyer_proof.pdf
- One or two PDFs of the selected pages
- Links/
- Linked graphics. Placed INDD files each get their own folder with a package here.
- Document fonts/
- Used fonts
- spread_4-5/
- Only with Separate package for each selected spread on – each spread gets its own subfolder with INDD, PDF and Links
- protokol.txt
- A log of what happened, including any errors
- _NEDOKONCENO.txt
- Present only when packaging did not finish – do not send such output anywhere
_NEDOKONCENO.txt (“incomplete”) is created right at the start
and deleted only after a successful finish. If you see it in the folder,
packaging ended with an error, was cancelled, or one of the placed INDD
files could not be packaged. protokol.txt tells you exactly
what.
Settings
Panel menu (the ≡ icon at the top right) › Settings…
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
| License | Licence status, buying the full version and activating a key |
| Language / Jazyk | English or Czech. Applies right away to the panel, the suggested package name and the progress window. |
| Favorite folders | Rename (just type over the name), reorder with ↑ ↓, change the path with …, remove with − and add a new folder |
| Settings transfer | Export and import presets and last options as a JSON file |
Settings transfer
Export settings to JSON saves all presets and the last options into one file, which you load on another computer with Import settings from JSON. Selected pages, folder paths and favorite folders are not transferred – they might not be valid on another computer anyway.
Import never overwrites anything: a preset with a name you already have is added with a number.
Trial and licence
Fourteen days of everything, then a key.
The plugin runs as a full trial for 14 days from the first time you open the panel. The days left are shown at the top of the panel and in Settings. When the trial ends, the panel shows Trial has expired. and the Package button stays grey until you activate a licence. Presets, favorite folders and settings stay saved the whole time.
Buying and activating
- In Settings, under License, click Buy full version. The purchase page opens in your browser.
- After paying, you find the licence key in the purchase receipt and in your Gumroad library.
- Click Activate Gumroad key, paste the whole key and confirm. The key is verified with Gumroad over the internet.
After activation the trial line disappears from the panel, and Settings shows who the licence belongs to. Trial and full version are the same plugin; there is nothing else to download. On another computer, install the same plugin and enter the same key.
A verified licence works offline for 30 days. The plugin checks it again about once a day when it can, so you normally will not notice. A refunded purchase stops working at the next check.
Troubleshooting
The panel always tells you what happened. Start there.
The Package button is grey
The link check is still running (the Links section says Checking links…), or the trial has expired. With no document open, Package is always grey.
Save the document first.
The document has never been saved to disk. Save it and click ↻.
The panel shows a different document
The panel stays with the document it last loaded. After switching to another document, click ↻ at the bottom of the panel.
The range reports an error
A range counts page positions from 1 to the number of pages in the document. The panel will not accept a number beyond that or a page name instead of a position, and shows which part of the range is wrong.
Folder unavailable
The favorite folder has moved or its drive is not connected. Connect the drive, or change its path in Settings with ….
The output contains _NEDOKONCENO.txt
Packaging did not finish. Open protokol.txt in the same
folder – its end says where and why it stopped. If only one of the placed
INDD files failed, the rest of the package is complete, but in that case
the source document is not saved or closed.
Page previews do not show
For a page that could not be rendered the panel shows Preview unavailable. It does not affect selection – you can still choose the page in the list.
Reporting a problem
Send protokol.txt from the output folder and the text the
panel showed at the end. They show exactly where it stopped.