InCopy Document

Adobe developed the ICML format for Creative Suite 4 (CS4) and released it in 2003. Previous versions of InCopy (CS3 and earlier) saved documents as .INCX files. ICML is the primary file type associated with InCopy and is a working document, which means you can save the file, close it, then re-open it to continue editing it.

You may also utilize ICML files to link portions of an Adobe InDesign document ( .INDD file) via a network fileserver. For example, you can link a subset with InDesign, such as a text or graphics frame, of an INDD file to one or more ICML files and grant them editing permissions using an .ICMA assignment file. Once you edit the ICML files, InDesign automatically updates the content in the document.

Typically, you will not directly open ICML files linked to an ICMA assignment file. Instead, when you "edit" an ICMA assignment file, you are modifying ICML files behind the scenes using InCopy.

You can open ICML files with Adobe InCopy in Windows and macOS. To open it with InCopy, select File → Open... or double-click the file if it is associated with InCopy. You can also open ICML files with Adobe InDesign .

Adobe InCopy and InDesign can convert ICML files to other formats.

For example, Adobe InCopy converts ICML files to the following formats:

Programs that open ICML files

Updated: February 2, 2023