Requested InDesign (INDD) format please

[gwmbox]

Hi all - long time user but new to the forums

Wondering if anyone has thought of adding support for InDesign files, i.e. the INDD format - if only for read only will be sufficient.

Or does anyone know of a plug-in or another viewer that can read INDD files.

Cheers

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

You're joking I hope.

[gwmbox]

You're joking I hope.

well err no not really why would I be joking, or better still why would I ask the question? Is what I have asked for just not possible? If so why - just curious as it is simply another format just like a pdf is it not - maybe it isn't and well I guess sorry for asking a - if you think - dumb question - excuuuuuse me.....

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Unless InDesign files contain a bitmap preview like some EPS files, creating a viewer for them would mean interpreting all of the powerful page layout code used by InDesign. PDF is an open format, and there are plenty of PDF viewers about, but even writing a decent PDF viewer is a non-trivial task. The plugin can make use of the Ghostscript engine, which must also be installed for the plugin to view PDF files in IrfanView.

What would be the point of viewing InDesign files anyway? If you have InDesign, then you can open them, otherwise there is not much you can do with a thumbnail preview.

IrfanView cannot edit WMF files either, but at least it can convert them to a half decent bitmap (sometimes, but not reliably). However, a WMF is a lot simpler than an InDesign file. IrfanView is still a bitmap editor and has no vector capabilities. The IrfanPaint plugin has to convert any vectors or text to bitmaps for IV to make use of them. Then you're stuck with an image of fixed resolution, and some jagged lines.

[gwmbox]

Now that is better a real explanation and now I understand why there is no viewer for InDesign - cheers for helping me learn