Can one layout hold several versions or languages?
Yes. Conditional text in Layout by Zaweba shows or hides text in sets, so one document can hold several versions or languages and export each one in turn.
It can. Conditional text in Layout by Zaweba lets one document hold several versions of its wording. You mark text with a condition, then show or hide conditions in sets, so the same pages can become the English edition, the Welsh edition, the trade price list or the retail one. Export with one set showing, switch to the next, and export again.
The alternative is keeping a copy of the document per version. That works for about a week. Then a picture changes, or the cover gets a new headline, and someone has to make the same change five times and hope they don't miss one.
How conditional text works
A condition is a label you apply to a piece of text. You might have conditions called English, French, Trade and Retail. Text with no condition always shows. Text with a condition shows or hides depending on whether that condition is turned on.
Sets group conditions together, so one click switches the whole document to a version. A set called French retail might show French and Retail and hide everything else. That's far quicker and safer than turning conditions on and off one by one before each export.
When it works well
Conditional text is at its best when versions share most of the layout. A product leaflet in two languages, with the same pictures and the same design, is the classic case. So is a price list where trade and retail customers see different figures, a report with a short and a long version of an appendix, or a manual where one model has an extra section.
It's good for small differences too: a regional phone number, a different closing date, a line that only appears for one audience.
Planning a multilingual layout
Translations are rarely the same length. German and Finnish often run longer than English, and some languages are noticeably shorter. Leave room in text frames so the longest version fits, or let stories thread through enough frames to absorb the difference. Live preflight in Layout shows overset text as you work, so switch to each set in turn and look for warnings before you export.
Use paragraph and character styles for all of it. If the English and French versions use the same styles, a change to a heading style changes both languages at once. Layout's UK English hyphenation helps with the English text.
Pictures and other objects
Conditions apply to text. If a picture needs to change between versions, there are other tools for that. Multi-state objects hold several versions of an object, where only the showing state prints, and layers can be shown or hidden. For a whole page that differs, a separate page in the document may be simpler.
Exporting each version
Switch to a set, export, switch to the next set, export again. Name each file clearly so the right version goes to the right place. If you do this often, File > Output jobs keeps named sets of exports with naming patterns, so the routine becomes repeatable rather than something you rebuild each time.
Before every export, check the pages with that set showing. Proofing one version doesn't prove the others.
When separate documents still make sense
If the versions differ in layout as well as words, with different pictures on every page and a different page count, separate documents may be clearer. Conditional text shines when one layout carries several sets of words; it isn't meant to hide a completely different design.
For the many jobs where only the words change, Layout by Zaweba keeps every version in one file, with one set of pictures and styles to maintain.
