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Version Cue and enhanced productivity

First, this article looks at the key productivity features and benefits of Version Cue. Version Cue offers benefits to individual designers as well as groups working in a collaborative environment.

Powerful file management for individual users

Version Cue offers individual designers a powerful way to manage the files they work on every day. Version Cue streamlines the process of creating both historical versions and alternates for files, maintaining a file history, locating and managing files, and backing up or restoring entire projects. Benefits to individual users are:

Efficient file management
As clients request changes to files, designers can create historical versions of both Adobe and non-Adobe files and track the changes made throughout the project. At any time, designers can view these versions and even promote older versions of files to become the current version. Version Cue displays the status of a file either in Bridge or directly from within any Adobe Creative Suite component. Version Cue also prevents designers from accidentally overwriting past versions while they work.

^[*] Users of Adobe InCopy^® CS2, a separate product not included in Adobe Creative Suite, can also access a Version Cue workspacewhich is available only as part of Adobe Creative Suiteif there is at least one copy of Adobe Creative Suite. InCopy CS2 workflows will not be covered in this white paper.

Alternates
Designers can create alternates of their design files, which might be variations of a design based on prior versions; or could be designated from completely different photos for different editions of a publication, for example. Version Cue makes it easy to manage variations of a design. Designers can access alternates from Bridge or even swap between them directly from the Links palette within either InDesign or Adobe Illustrator^®, making it simple to present a variety of design ideas to clients and creative directors.

Sharing
Designers can share files easily either with or without a server. Version Cue also offers guidance to users so that files can be safely shared without collision.

Search capabilities
Designers can find files quickly by searches based on file metadata, which designers can add to files as they save versions and alternates.

Review by external parties
Designers can create PDF files, manage review, and easily set up access privileges.

Archiving
Designers can easily manage the backup and archiving of design projects. Designers can also retrieve projects that have already been archived. Additionally, the entire Version Cue Workspace can be backed up on a regular schedule using the Version Cue Administration utility.

Administration
Version Cue is configured to work efficiently using the default settings. More advanced users can customize settings to meet their needs through the included advanced settings administration utility.

Workflow enhancements for collaborative users

In addition to all of the benefits that individual users enjoy, Version Cue lets workgroups easily share projects and safely collaborate on files by providing information about shared state, usage and edit conflicts, and resolution of these conflicts. Additionally, Version Cue can be set up to perform in either a user-based or a server-based configuration. Benefits to collaborative users are:

Managed PDF-based reviews. Version Cue manages the complex content-approval process by allowing users to initiate and participate in PDF-based review cycles. By tracking comments from multiple reviewers in a central location, users can respond to the comments of other viewers in a truly collaborative fashion.

Simplified file organization and access. Version Cue provides a projects-centered workspace where designers can organize related files and separate private and collaborative projects. Individuals can install their workspaces on their own computers; designers working on teams can allow colleagues to access their workspaces as desired, without the need to purchase, install, and configure additional hardware and software. Thumbnail previews provide visual cues to file content, and files can be searched on information such as author, keyword, and date.

Secure and reliable collaboration. Designers can collaborate transparently on projects. They can be confident that everyone is using the correct file version without slowing down other team members. Multi-user access makes files available to designers, compositors, and managers, while guidance messages and alerts prevent files from being accidentally overwritten.

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Alerts and guidance: If someone in the workgroup opens a file that's already in use, Version Cue displays guides to minimize editing conflicts (top) and displays an "in use" message in the title bar (bottom).

A typical Version Cue environment

As mentioned earlier, Version Cue uses a project Workspace to store file versions as well as information about files. When a designer installs Adobe Creative Suite, a Version Cue Workspace is automatically and by default placed on that individual's computer. The designer who works independently and doesn't need to share files is already set up, and the designer who is part of a workgroup is ready to use Version Cue in a user-based implementation.

In a user-based implementation, Version Cue projects and files are shared directly from a designer's local hard drive; a standalone server is not required. The individual who sets up a project essentially serves it to team members. Anyone who is networked to that individual's computer and has Adobe Creative Suite; the CS2 versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or GoLive or Acrobat 7.0 Professional; or any application that supports the standard Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol can access the files. (For more on WebDAV, see "Use of standards," page 7.) A user-based implementation is the easiest and most affordable way to implement Version Cue, saving workgroups from buying and configuring a dedicated server to run the system.

A server-based implementation may provide benefits for more structured workgroups. In a user-based implementation, files are accessible to teams only as long as the computer where the project resides is turned on and networked to the group. In some situationsfor example, when a designer works remotely and is only sporadically