- Create the Content in InDesign
- Add Interactivity Using the Overlay Creator Panel
- Test
- Build a Folio Using the Folio Builder Panel
- Publish Via Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
- Final Thoughts
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Build a Folio Using the Folio Builder Panel
In order to actually distribute the content, a .folio file needs to be created. Within InDesign, the Folio Builder panel is where you go to build the folio and add articles. You need to sign into the Folio Builder panel using a free Adobe ID. The Adobe ID you use to sign in to the Folio Builder determines which features you have access to. If you sign in with a free Adobe ID, you can use the Acrobat.com service to test the folio and share it with other for testing. If you sign up for the Adobe Digital Publishing service (which you pay for), you can test and sell the digital content on services such as the Apple Store. To me, it’s sort of like creating a book file (File > New > Book), if you’ve ever done that. You take separate InDesign files (such as the cover, a TOC, the articles, ads, and more) and add them to the folio you are creating. All of that content gets bundled together into a .folio file.
Here’s how it works:
- Choose Window > Extensions > Folio Builder to open the Folio Builder panel.
- In the Folio Builder panel, click Sign In to sign in with your free Adobe ID. If you don’t have one, you can click Sign Up in the Folio Builder panel.
- In the Sign In dialog box, enter your username and password and sign in (see Figure 7). After signing in, the Folio Builder panel will be blank. Now you need to create a new folio and add your InDesign documents (called articles) to it.
- Click New at the bottom of the panel. In the New Folio panel, change the name (we used “Magazine”) and other properties as you see fit (see Figure 8). Click OK. This creates a blank folio.
- At the top of the Folio Builder panel, you will see “Magazine | Articles” (your folio name may be different than “Magazines,” obviously). The panel will also be blank. Click the small arrow to the left of the name of your article to see all of the folios you have created (only one right now) (see Figure 9).
- Double–click the name of your portfolio in the list, and it will show you all of the articles you’ve created again (it will be blank) (see Figure 10).
- Open one of your InDesign article files (.indd). I opened my Cover_v.indd file.
- Click New. In the New Article dialog box, name the article Cover, and click OK (see Figure 11).
- This adds the current open document to the folio as the first article and uploads it to acrobat.com or the Digital Publishing Suite (if you are a paid member) (see Figure 12).
- Double–click the “Cover” article list in the panel. You will see the “Portrait Layout” listed. You need to add the horizontal orientation as well if you want that.
- Open the InDesign file that contains the other orientation (in my case, I opened Cover_h.indd) and click New in the Folio Builder panel. This adds the other orientation to the Cover article. Notice that it says “uploading” as it processes the file in the panel. It is uploading to Acrobat.com if you have signed in with a free username/password or to the Digital Publishing Suite if you are a paid member (see Figure 13).
- Click the name of your folio in the upper–left corner of the panel (mine is “Magazine”). This takes you back to a listing of the articles created so far (there is one, called “Cover”).
- Try adding another article, as well as the other orientation for that article to the folio using the Folio Builder panel.
- Click the small arrow to the left of the folio name, in the upper–left corner of the panel, until you see the “Magazine” folio listed in the Folio Builder panel.
- Click Preview at the bottom of the panel to open the magazine in the Adobe Content Viewer and test.
- After building the folio in InDesign using the Folio Builder, visit Acrobat.com and sign in. There is a single workspace that contains your content (see Figure 14).
- To share the folio with others, click the Share Workspace button in the lower–left corner of the web page and email people a link (see Figure 15).
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Figure 7 Sign in to either Acrobat.com or the Digital Publishing Suite service
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Figure 8 Create your folio
The next step is to add your InDesign documents (called “articles” in this context) to the folio.
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Figure 9 The new folio as it appears in the Folio Builder panel
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Figure 10 Looking at the articles in your folio (it will be blank right now)
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Figure 11 Creating the first article by adding an InDesign file
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Figure 12 The article uploading to Acrobat.com
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Figure 13 Upload the other orientation
You need to add every article to the folio. You can open each one and add them separately, or you can choose Import from the Folio Builder panel menu and import a single or multiple articles just by browsing to their folders.
If you logged into the Folio Builder panel and are using Acrobat.com, you can only work with one folio at a time, unless you sign up for Acrobat.com and pay a monthly fee.
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Figure 14 On Acrobat.com, you can view and share the folio
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Figure 15 Invite others to see your folio
The person or people with whom you share it can see the workspace in their Acrobat.com account (if they have one). Also, if they (or you) have a device like an iPad, Blackberry Playbook, or Xoom (Android), you can download the free Adobe Content viewer on their device through the devices store (like the Apple iTunes app store on the iPad) and log in to their Acrobat.com account and download/view the folio you shared with them on their device directly (see Figure 16)!
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Figure 16 Install the Adobe Content Viewer and access your shared folio on an iPad