Posted May 8, 2007

Here's a text version of a quick-start guide for reporters working in APT.

Click here for the illustrated PDF with more details.

Start a story

The shortest way to start writing is to use “Quick Create.” Click the lightning icon on the toolbar under your name.

The “Slug?” window displays. Give your story a name and click “OK.”

Quick Create uses a “default template and element type” to launch a
new story without having to select the Element Type and Template. In some case, you will have to select element type or template, such as when writing cutlines or creating agate for business.


Start another type of item

In those special cases, click the blank page icon, “New,” on the toolbar under your name.

The “New Element” window displays.

Type the slug name. Pick “Local” from the workflow options. It probably is your only option.

Look under Templates to select the item you want. WSJNewsStory is the default. Cutline, info box, etc. are self-explanatory. Note: The WSJBizNews and WSJ Sports templates are for agate only, not regular stories.

Everything else is optional. Leave the default options unless you know what you are changing. Then click “Create” in the lower left. A new document will be created.

If you haven’t already started up InCopy, there will be a delay while the software starts up and loads its font collection.

Write the story

You’ll next see a window with a pristine screen ready for your prose.

Story writing hints

Use “Story” view (middle tab in the upper left corner of the article page) to get the traditional word processor view of the story.

If you don’t need the upper right format palette (and you usually don’t when writing a story), minimize this pesky palette by clicking anywhere along the left side (but not on a tab, which will just change the palette view).

Ironclad rule for any system: Save (ctrl-S) regularly.

Keyboard shortcuts

Sick of all the icons and menus? Get a list of InCopy keyboard shortcuts. Rather than list them all here, we recommend using the following steps to generate a list of shortcuts:

1) Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
2) Select a shortcut set from the Set menu.
3) Click Show Set.
4) A text file opens with all current and undefined shortcuts.

How long is my story?

First, save your story.

Then click galley view in the upper left corner. This is the equivalent of Harris’s H&J function. Your screen should show the justified version of the story:

Now look in the bottom box. To the left of the nasty “no info” box, which serves no function for us, you’ll see four sets of numbers. The number next to D: is the length in column inches – a bit over 20 in the case above.

Estimating length as you write

You also can use the depth ruler along the left side of your copy to see the length as you write in either story or layout view.

If the ruler is not visible in your story, use the Adobe InCopy CS2 top menu bar to add it.

1) Choose View > Show/Hide Depth Ruler.
2) To show or hide only the information column, choose View > Show/Hide Info Column.
3) To hide the ruler, Hide Depth Ruler or Hide Info Column from the View menu.

Hit your perfect length? Excellent. Now send your story for hacking by the desk.

Send a finished story for editing

Use “advance workflow,” the blue buttons in your palette of options in your personal queue.

1) Click to highlight a story in your queue.

2) Then click the blue button pointing to the right to send your story to an editing queue. You get a popup asking you where to copy the story.

3) Select the correct location and click OK.

To reverse workflow: Click the left-facing blue arrow instead. The item moves back to its previous status or queue.

Send a story to somebody else

Highlight a story in your queue with a click, then right click to get a popup menu. Select “copy” for a story selected.

You will be prompted to select a destination queue from the dashboard hierarchy. Find your destination and double-click. Another window pops up with a new slug name and status options.

You get this window because APT Falcon does not allow slugs with the same name, even in different queues.

Copying shortcut: Ctrl-Drag

Open the queue containing a story and the queue where you want to place a copy. Copy an element to another queue by holding down the “Ctrl Key”, clicking on the handle of the file to be copied (the handle is a blank square at far left of a story in a queue list). Hold down the mouse button and drag into the open destination queue.

Moving shortcut: Click and hold, drag

A similar method also can be used to move a file. Click and hold the handle of an item, then drag to the new queue.

Deleting a story

Just press the delete key to move a story to the Trash.

Change the slugline

You may need to alter your original slugline to add your initials or a proposed run date (“MON” “TUE” etc.) This is the equivalent of ctrl-F9 in Harris.

First, click the “Details” icon.

A window opens containing all the header Information for the story. You can change the slug or its status, for example, and add notes (use sparingly unless you know your editor or collaborator takes the time to look at this field)

Read-Only

This is equivalent to the Harris view mode. Right click on a story, and select “Open (Read-Only)” and the story will be opened in read-only view. You can’t edit the item, but you can read it, even if someone else is working on the story.

Unlock

This function works almost exactly the same as its equivalent in Harris. “Unlock” lets you remove the file lock on a story that was open during an improper file closure. File locks are set every time you open a story for editing, thus preventing two or more individuals from trying to edit the same file at the same time.

If you try to open a story that someone else has opened you will get a
message stating “in use by: [username].”

If you have the file open, or if the file was not properly closed, meaning
that it has a file lock on it, you will get an “opened by you” message. If you do not have the file open on your computer or another machine, it may not have been closed properly.

To unlock, right click and choose “Unlock,” then reopen the file.

Wire Cleanup

If you are working off a wire story, begin by opening the story and clicking wire cleanup, the brush icon on the InCopy toolbar. This cleans wire stories of transmission characters and transforms special characters to match our style.

Global search

Clicking the magnifying glass on the Falcon toolbar allows you to search the content of all queues for specific words or phrases.

A separate guide still to come will recommend search strategies. But anyone familiar with search engines probably can use this function without any detailed training.

The global search provides many options. Experiment and enjoy!