Help with workflow question

I'm wondering if what I'm doing is right with VC.

I open an original file (jpg), open it in PS CS.
Then make some changes, add layers, etc,...
Save as PSD in version cue project for the first time, before losing anything.
make some more changes, and Save the file again.
Now the file says it's used by me (yeah, but I don't want to make another version of the file, it's the same one as before with minor edits. So if I want to "release" the file, I have to save a version 2. OK, save a version then.
This is a big file with lots of edits which will take more then one day to work on, so I'll have to save the files many times, each time I'll have the save a version problem, since the file will be used by me.

Now, if I understand this correctly, the minimum file version someone can have is 2, the first time you save the file, then after all edits are made, a version 2 which would be final. Then if the client needs some more editing, you save some more version, but the least version you can do is 2, right?

Why can't I just have one version? If I make some changes, but I don't consider them worth a version, I can't just save the file cause it will be listed in use. Am I the only one complaining about this?

I didn't try it in ID CS yet, but this will be even worst there, as you want to save your file often.

Maybe I just don't get this thing.

Any help explaining the proper workflow for working with VC would be appriciated.

TIA
Jeff

I think what you're trying to do is fine, and was intended to work well with VC. The key is to understand the difference in effect between Save and Save a Version.

When you have a VC file open (whether you're editing it or not), there are actually two copies of the file "in the world". There is a *working copy* that you have open (in PS or ID or whatever) and there is a *project copy* kept by the Version Cue workspace. (The working copy is visible in the Finder/Explorer somewhere inside your Documents folder, and you should be able to find it easily enough. But don't go looking for the project copy(!) - it's hidden away with an unreadable name deep in the workspace application folder.)

When you edit your working copy, your CS app notices that it no longer matches the project copy, and it tells the VC project that you have an edit in progress. The workspace then warns all the CS apps that the file is in use (so that other users won't start editing their working copies at the same time); since you are using a CS app you also get this info in your title bar: In Use by Me.

Note that there is *nothing wrong* when you get this message, and you will get it whether or not you save your working copy changes to disk by doing File>Save. It simply means that VC has correctly noticed that you are editing your working copy, and thus that the working copy no longer matches the project copy. In fact, if you are like me, you will use File>Save often while you are editing your working copy, and you may even close your working copy and go home and then reopen it (e.g., via the recent files list) the next day. All the time you are editing it you will get the "In Use by Me" status message because the working copy is, in fact, in use by you.

Eventually you may decide that you have done enough work that you would like to save your working copy changes to the project copy (e.g., so that you can go back to them later after more edting, or so you can show them to a different VC user). At that point you do File>Save a Version. This not only does a "regular" File>Save of any changes to the working copy, it also make a *new* project copy of the current working copy --- that new project copy *is* the "new version." Also, because the working copy and the project copy match, the working copy is no longer considered to be "in use" by VC and thus the status shows as "Available" in your title bar.

In summary, then: go ahead and make as many edits as you want and do File>Save as often as you want and feel free to close/reopen the file as often as you want before doing Save a Version. The little "In Use" reminder will always be there to let you know that the working copy is newer than the project copy, but that's really just a reminder NOT a warning. Whenever you're ready, you can choose Save a Version to update the project copy.

(A note for the nervous: VC never forgets about working copies that you have edited, even if you do! It's perfectly alright always to use the File>Open/Version Cue dialog to open any VC files, whether you already have an edited working copy or not. If you navigate into a project and come across a file that you have a working copy of, you will see "In Use by Me" in the VC dialog as a reminder, and if you click the "Open" button it will open your edited working copy just as if you had double-clicked it in the Finder/Explorer. In fact, VC *never* lets you directly open a project copy of *any* file: that's how it keeps them safe. If you don't have a current working copy of the project file when you choose Open, VC will simply give you one.)

Thanks Daniel,

You explain a lot of things here, but I'm right in saying that I have a minimum of two psd file for each image I want to save a version. The first one, the one I save the first time in the project folder, and the second one, once all my edits are done.

If I work without VC, I can have only one PSD file and on flattened Tiff file, for printing in ID or another app. Since I don't know the names of the files that VC makes, it can take a lot of disk space if you have a lot of images in a lot of project, etc,...

I guess that's where the advance administration comes into play.

now, if I can just figure out a way to make this workflow fit our daily backup with retrospect... but that's another topic already started elsewhere...

Thanks
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

if you absolutley don't want to keep versions with your file, you can always go ahead and delete specific versions of a file in the versions dialog in Photoshop (or InDesign etc.) available in the File Menu.
You can also clean out older versions on the project level using the advanced administration.

Thanks,
Veronika