This tutorial walks through backing up an InDesign project to cloud storage or a flash drive.
When working on a Media Commons iMac, you will have to back up your project when you are not actively working on it. Penn State’s iMacs get refreshed daily, so everything gets deleted. Additionally, you will not be able to access your work from one iMac on a different iMac on campus.
These steps do not need to be taken if you are working on your personal computer unless you want to be able to access your project on a different computer.
Saving An InDesign Project
- Select Save from the File menu (or ctrl/cmd+S on the keyboard). Select Save As instead if you want to change where your project is saved.
- Select Quit from the InDesign menu.
- Close out or minimize any other windows you may have open.
You will see your project on the desktop, represented by the Id icon and with the “.indd” extension.
Backing Up to Cloud Storage
- Open up a web browser such as Firefox and access the cloud storage of your choice.
If you don’t have a preference, we recommend using your Penn State OneDrive account or Google Drive.
- Drag and drop your InDesign file onto the browser window.
- Once the file has uploaded, you can close the window and log out of the computer.
To resume working on your project at another time, you will need to redownload the file from cloud storage and open it in InDesign.
NOTE: Your project will not back up automatically after this. You will need to follow the Backing Up steps each time you finish working on your project.
Backing Up to a Flash Drive
- Plug your flash drive into the computer and locate it on the desktop.
Your flash drive’s name will likely be different from the image below, but the drive icon will be the same.
- Double click the flash drive to open it.
- Click-and-drag your InDesign file into the window.
- Click the Eject icon next to your flash drive on the left sidebar of the window under Locations (the process for ejecting from a Windows computer will be different).
- When your drive is no longer visible in the Locations list you can remove your drive and log out of the computer.
To resume working on your project at another time, you will need to access your flash drive from the Desktop and drag-and-drop your InDesign file to the Desktop. Double-click your InDesign to continue working on it.
NOTE: Your project will not back up automatically after this. You will need to follow the Backing Up steps each time you finish working on your project.