How To Publish Your Adobe InDesign Publish Online Documents

How to Publish Online in Adobe InDesign and Track Your Document Analytics

Publishing online is not just about getting an InDesign document onto the web. It is also about making sensible decisions around sharing, download options, image quality, and tracking whether people are actually using the thing you made.

That last part is especially useful. With a printed catalogue or newsletter, you send it out and then it is pretty hard to know whether it worked. With Publish Online, you have proper metrics to help answer that question.

Update an existing online document instead of publishing another copy

Open Publish Online and, if you have already published the document once, choose Update Existing Document rather than creating a new document.

This is a really handy option for anything that may need changes after publication, such as a catalogue. Maybe someone spots a typo, an image needs replacing, or some information has changed. Update the InDesign file, publish over the existing document, and the link you have already shared stays exactly the same.

That means no awkward follow-up email saying, “Actually, use this new link instead.” The original link remains the one people use.

Choose whether people can download or share the document

The Publish Online window includes a few options worth thinking about before hitting Publish.

Allow PDF downloads when a static copy is useful

You can allow people to download a PDF version of the publication. The PDF will not retain the online interactivity, but it can still be useful for someone who wants a copy to keep, reference, or print.

It is a trade-off. The online version may be the richer experience, but a downloadable PDF can be convenient.

Turn off sharing when you need more control

You can also stop people from sharing the document or taking their own copy. This does not make the document completely impossible to capture, but it does make it harder for people to grab and redistribute it.

If the publication is intended to be a bit more private or controlled, this is an option worth using.

Use the advanced Publish Online settings

The advanced area gives you more control over how the document appears and how much data it needs to load.

• Pages: Decide which pages are included in the online publication.

• Thumbnail: Choose the image used as the document preview.

• Image quality: Set the quality used when the document exports.

Create a thumbnail that works properly

By default, InDesign can use the cover as the thumbnail. That might be perfect, but it does not have to be the final choice. You can select a different image instead, including one designed specifically to work as a thumbnail.

That is useful when the cover does not read clearly at a small size or when you want a more deliberate preview image for the document.

Balance image quality against download speed

You can set the quality to standard, such as 96, or use a higher DPI option, such as 144. Higher quality can look better on high-resolution displays, including Retina screens, but it creates a larger file and a longer download time.

For most publications, standard quality is a sensible choice. It still looks great, and a faster-loading document is generally more useful than chasing the best possible appearance for a relatively limited number of high-resolution laptop displays.

Once the settings are right, click Publish. If you selected an existing document, this updates it. Nice and easy.

Open the Publish Online Dashboard

Publishing is only half of it. The useful part comes next, when you can see how the document is performing.

In InDesign, go to File and choose Publish Online Dashboard. This opens the web dashboard containing your published documents. From there, select a publication and open its Analytics tab.

The dashboard gives you a central place to manage your publications, but the analytics are the bit that makes Publish Online much more useful than sending out a traditional printed piece.

Understand the key Publish Online analytics

The Analytics overview provides a straightforward set of numbers to measure engagement:

• Views: The number of times the document has been opened.

• Readers: The number of individual people who have read it.

• Average read time: The typical amount of time a reader spends with the document.

• Total read time: The combined time spent reading across all readers.

Views and readers are not the same thing. One person could open the publication 40 times, which pushes up the view count, but that is still only one reader. Looking at both numbers gives a more realistic picture.

Also, pay attention to the units shown for read time. The dashboard can show hours and minutes, and it is easy to misread the figures if you are not looking closely.

Use analytics to test whether Publish Online works for your readership

If you are unsure whether Publish Online suits your audience, do a test. Publish a newsletter, catalogue, or other document, share the link, then return to the analytics later.

You will be able to see whether nobody read it at all, whether lots of people opened it, and whether they spent any meaningful time with it. That gives you actual data rather than a vague feeling about whether the publication landed well.

You can also compare documents from month to month. For example, compare a January newsletter with the February edition:

• Did one attract more readers?

• Did people spend longer reading one than the other?

• Did changes in content, design, or promotion appear to improve engagement?

Those comparisons make the numbers useful. They help you assess how your publishing is performing instead of simply sending something out and hoping for the best.

Give the dashboard time to refresh

Do not panic if you send an email containing the link and immediately see no activity in the dashboard. Analytics take a little while to collect and refresh, around 90 minutes.

So if the document has just gone out, give it an hour and a half before drawing conclusions. A zero in the dashboard straight after sending is not necessarily a zero in real life.

Check document trends over time

Beyond the Overview page, open Document Trends to see performance information for your published documents over time.

This is useful for spotting patterns and comparing the results of different publications. Even a document with only a couple of views tells you something. It may be disappointing, sure, but it is still better information than having no idea at all.

That is the real advantage of publishing an InDesign document online. You can still create the polished design work you would normally make, but now you can update it without changing the link, decide how it is shared, and track whether it is actually being read.

FAQ's

Can I change a published InDesign document after sharing its link?

Yes. Choose Update Existing Document in Publish Online, select the original publication, and publish your changes. The document updates while the existing link remains the same.

Does a downloaded Publish Online PDF keep interactive features?

No. A downloadable PDF can be useful as a static copy, but it does not include all of the interactivity available in the online version.

What does the InDesign Publish Online Dashboard track?

The Analytics tab tracks views, individual readers, average read time, and total read time. Document Trends can then help compare performance across publications.

Why are my Publish Online analytics not updating straight away?

The analytics need time to collect and refresh. Allow roughly 90 minutes after sharing a document before relying on the dashboard figures.