http://www.adobe.com/products/incopy/
This plug-in produced by Adobe offers a tool for collaboration between the writers and the designers of a document or publication. Rather than having to cut and paste revisions from word documents, it offers the writers direct access to the templates created by designers who are able to restrict and allow changes to various degrees, working much in the same way that Contribute works for web, InCopy works for print.
From the site: Adobe® InCopy® CS2 software is a professional writing and editing program that tightly integrates with Adobe InDesign® CS2 software to deliver a complete solution for collaborative editorial workflow. InCopy CS2 introduces a new assignments workflow, which enables editors to work on parts of pages, spreads, or entire documents in parallel with designers. With 100% accurate copyfitting and highly productive editorial tools, InCopy CS2 brings a new level of efficiency to your editorial processes.
65 Bit Software
http://www.65bit.com/products/products.shtm
This company offers a number of plug-ins for use with InDesign. Descriptions for each of the products are available through the above link. Quite possibly the most interesting is EasyCatalogCS. This plug-in allows users to easily convert, import, and format data from spreadsheets and other documents. This tool will be useful for those dealing with constantly-updating databanks of prices, profits, or other categorical data.
From the Site: "EasyCatalogCS has been designed to aid the production of catalogs, brochures, price lists, and most other types of data or design-driven publications. You've got a file, or database, and need to publish its content using Adobe InDesign CS software. How do you do it? What happens if the details in the file or database change at the last minute? What if you're using complex page designs for each record in the file or database? EasyCatalog has the answer.
KnowBody
http://www.knowbody.dk/
This site offers a large library of plug-ins built for InDesign, both for purchase and free download. The tools available from this outlet are top-notch. Each product allows for improved work flow and a reduction on repetitive tasks. The most useful features are the type tools which allow advanced control of kerning and tracking. Cool Kerning allows the user to define kerning values based on a font and adjacent letters, eliminating the need to manually set kerning for reoccurring letter pairs. Other tools are available on the site.
From the site: Cool Kerning lets you do automatic updates of kerning values. You will be able to build kerning tables to control kerning between special character pairs. The tables are collected into packages that have a version number. The packages can be automatically distributed inside the InDesign documents so that . updates are also automatically parsed in your organization. This gives you much greater quality assurance than you are accustomed to in other layout programs. With the Cool Kerning plug-in, you can use fewer designers and still take less time to get to the correct graphical results. It's all handled automatically! Building pages that use headlines often requires manual amendment of the tracking values. Cool Tracking allows you to make tracking tables and automate the process. The use of a graph to specify the values has been seen before. But what really stands out in Cool Tracking is the easy way in which you can store multiple tables inside packages that can be distributed in your organization. This technology allows you to lower your production costs dramatically. And you get quality assurance on a new level that no other layout program can match. It's all handled automatically!
