4. Choose a workflow for your job

Proof a client document before approval

Goal: resolve clear editorial defects while preserving intentional typography.

Start with a saved copy, Editorial QA, an appropriate language policy and a representative spread. Inspect Typography and Styles. Review spaces, repeated words, quotes and unintended overrides before composition refinements. Use the Colour Atlas to understand unfamiliar rules. Correct text manually where no supported correction is offered, inspect again, then review the full intended scope.

Finished when: the final inspection is current, remaining exceptions are understood, diagnostics are cleared and human proofreading is complete.

Review a book or long-form publication

Goal: make chapter-level evidence comparable.

Start with Book / long-form and one representative chapter. Check Styles and language first. Review repeated hyphen endings, short final lines, widows/orphans, rivers and overset in page context. Use Publication to collect or serially inspect the intended already open documents. Confirm membership, common policy and coverage before comparing summaries.

Finished when: the intended chapters are included, scan settings are comparable and incomplete or omitted evidence is explicitly reviewed. Publication completion is not a declaration that every chapter is error-free.

Review an annual report

Goal: protect meaning and consistency in text, numbers and tables.

Use Annual report if suitable, with a representative scope before the full run. Check dates, decimal/grouping conventions, currency and abbreviations against the publication's house style. Verify original data before any edit. Review tables and footnotes directly in InDesign because their coverage is limited.

Finished when: numeric meaning is preserved, language conventions are deliberate and nested structures have received the necessary separate review.

Review a magazine or narrow-column layout

Goal: improve reading rhythm while respecting intentional design.

Start with Magazine or Narrow columns, according to the job. Look at river geometry, rag, short last lines, repeated hyphen endings and local formatting. Compare a proposed fix with nearby paragraphs and columns. A title break, pull quote or short line can be intentional.

Finished when: each retained layout change improves the actual page without unacceptable reflow. A smaller global counter alone is insufficient.

Review multilingual work

Goal: apply the intended convention to each part of the text.

Check paragraph languages before using automatic resolution. Compare representative quotes, punctuation and number examples in each language. Test an explicit locale only when that convention is intended. In a team profile, make an authorized custom copy before changing protected policy.

Finished when: you can explain the language basis for a finding and comparable scans use the intended policy. A locale's presence in the menu is not proof of equal coverage for every rule.