InDesign

Synchronize book documents

When you synchronize documents in a book, the items you specify—styles, variables, master pages, trap presets, numbering lists, and swatches—are copied from the style source to the specified documents in the book, replacing any items that have identical names.

If items in the style source are not found in the documents being synchronized, they are added. Items that are not included in the style source are left as is in the documents being synchronized.

For a video on synchronizing book documents, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0216.

Select items to synchronize

  1. Choose Synchronize Options in the Book panel menu.
  2. Select the items you want to copy from the style source to other book documents, and then click OK.

    Be sure to select all styles included in the definition of other styles. For example, an object style may contain paragraph and character styles, which in turn include swatches.

Synchronize documents in a book file

You can synchronize the book while documents in the book are closed. InDesign opens the closed documents, makes any changes, and then saves and closes the documents. Documents that are open when you synchronize are changed but not saved.

  1. In the Book panel, click the blank box next to the document that you want to be the style source; the style source icon  indicates which document is the style source.
    Selected style source

  2. Make sure that the items you want copied from the style source are selected in the Synchronize Options dialog box.
  3. In the Book panel, select the documents you want to synchronize with the style source document. If no document is selected, the entire book will be synchronized.
    To make sure that no documents are selected, click the blank gray area below the booked documents—you may need to scroll or resize the Book panel. You can also hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and click a selected document to deselect it.
  4. Choose Synchronize Selected Documents or Synchronize Book from the Book panel menu, or click the Synchronize button  at the bottom of the Book panel.
Note: Choosing Edit > Undo will undo changes only in documents that are open at the time synchronization occurs.

Synchronizing master pages

Master pages are synchronized in the same way as other items—master pages with the same name (such as A-Master) as those in the style source are replaced. Synchronizing masters is useful for documents that use the same design elements, such as running headers and footers. However, if you want to preserve page items on a master page in documents other than the style source, either don’t synchronize master pages, or create master pages with different names.

Any master page items that are overridden on document pages before you synchronize masters for the first time are detached from the master. Therefore, if you plan on synchronizing master pages in your book, it’s a good idea to synchronize all the documents in your book at the start of the design process. That way, overridden master page items will maintain their connection to the master page and will continue to be updated from modified master page items in the style source.

It’s also a good idea to synchronize master pages using only one style source. If you synchronize from a different style source, overridden master page items may become detached from the master page. If you need to synchronize using a different style source, deselect the Master Pages option in the Synchronize Options dialog box before doing so.