Difference between revisions of "Smart Connection"

Revision as of 21:50, 17 January 2017

Smart Connection connects Enterprise to InDesign and InCopy. The most noticeable change is the addition of a login prompt when the program starts and a "Smart Connection" menu.

Smart Connection is essential for creating a layout.

Once logged in, the Smart Connection panel (available via Window—>Smart Connection) allows easy access to your inbox, a search tool and a browse function available from the dropdown in the upper left corner, next to the refresh button. Colored boxes indicate a file's current status.

Browsing tips and tricks

You can customize the browse view to work best with your individual preferences.

Columns

Right-click anywhere in the title bar (for instance, the blank space immediately following "Name" or "Modified On") to pull up a list of columns. Anything with a check mark will already be in your window; click those items to remove them. To add a new column, click the item in that list. You can grab columns and drag them into any order you prefer.

You can re-arrange the list by clicking one of the column headers. The first click will sort the items in ascending order; a second click will reverse it into descending order.

Filtering by type

If you want to restrict your search to a particular object type—say, articles or layouts—you can easily do so. Right-click the empty space to the right of the dropdown menus to open a list of object types. Click one to limit your view to objects of that type. If you see a checkmark next to an object type, your view is already filtered. Click that checkmark again to remove the filter.

Help! My file is gone!

Try the following:

• Right-click the empty space to the right of the refresh symbol or dropdown menus. Is there a checkmark next to one of the object types? If so, you're filtering the results to only that type of object. Click the list item with the checkmark to remove the filter.
• The Smart Connection panel will only show you 50 items at a time. Check the lower right corner of the Smart Connection panel to find the arrows that will let you flip through to see the rest of the list, if it exceeds 50 items.
• Is your search too specific? Try removing some of the restrictions, such as Category.
• If the Smart Connection panel doesn't show what you expect to see, try the refresh button.

Checking out a file for editing

As in Content Station. the pencil icon indicates which item(s) your account currently has checked out for editing, and the "In Use By" column shows who else has content checked out. Note that InCopy users will need to check out each article individually to edit its contents.

The arrows to the left of layouts will show the files included in each layout, such as the articles mentioned above.

Right-click on a file to access its properties, view which dossier(s) it appears in, or access previous versions.

While editing a file, use the regular File—>Save command frequently to save a version of the article without closing it.

Checking a file back in

Go to the Smart Connection menu and choose "Check In Article". Update properties as needed. The article will close.

If you don't wish to save the changes you've made, select Smart Connection—>Abort Checkout.

Editing stacked text boxes

In some layouts, text boxes may be placed over text boxes, which can make it difficult to edit the contents of the lower box.

You can, however, access that copy if you hold down the command (⌘) key while clicking into the lower box, as demonstrated below: <htmlet>textboxes</htmlet>

Elvis credential error

If you get that Elvis credential error while working on a layout, here's what to do:

1. Smart Connection—>Close for offline work (to save a local version while keeping the layout locked in Enterprise)
2. Smart Connection—>Log out
3. Smart Connection—>Log in
4. Check in that file

"Photo removed" error

Sometimes when opening a layout in INDD, Adobe Indesign will present an error box with messages within it that say things like "Image 'Image name' on page x was removed."

When you see this, it means one of three things: either Elvis server has gone down, your connection went down briefly while opening the document, or your session expired (almost certainly because you forgot to log out and left INDD open for a long period of time). The latter two options are more likely.

Try this first: Smart Connection—>Log out (abort checkout if necessary). Quit. Reopen INDD. Log in. Try this second: Reach out to Dani or open a support ticket (or a Slack) so we can check the Elvis server and reboot it if necessary.