Server licensing
All of Em’s plugins have special headless server versions (with no user interface), since all are scriptable running inside InDesign Server.
Adobe defines four types of server licenses (section Licensing): premium, limited, development and trial.
Em Software plugin licenses for InDesign Server Premium (public-facing) and Limited (in-house) are sold on an annual subscription basis (up to 3 years), locked to a specific InDesign Server instance.
These paid licenses include Em’s premium support, and include all major and minor upgrades that are released during the plugin license subscription period (i.e., maintenance).
Our products, part numbers and annual licensing costs (in USD) for the two levels of InDesign Server are:
| product | sku premium | annual | sku limited | annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DocsFlow Server | IKSP1 | 2950 | IKSL1 | 1450 |
| InCatalog Server | ICSP1 | 2950 | ICSL1 | 1450 |
| InData Server | IDSP1 | 2950 | IDSL1 | 1450 |
| WordsFlow Server | IWSP1 | 2950 | IWSL1 | 1450 |
| Xtags Server | ITSP1 | 2950 | ITSL1 | 1450 |
Ordering
Credit-approved companies can order our server products with an official purchase order in an original PDF (no scans, please), emailed to sales@emsoftware.com, with 30-day payment terms, specifying:
- your standard purchase order information (company name, accounts receivable (billing) address, email address, phone number, purchase order number, any VAT number, etc.);
- the product name, part number (SKU), and quantity of each Em server plug-in product being ordered.
The license period will begin when we send the license for installation, by default, or at some date worked out in advance.
Installation
Once the license is purchased, you should contact us for download instructions. We’ll send you a product-specific link from which you can select and download an installer that’s appropriate for your version of InDesign Server.
Once installed, fire up InDesign Server. The product you’ve purchased will log a “not licensed for” message along with a 20-digit serial number-like activation identifier to the console. Send us that 20-digit identifier (or the whole log, if that’s easier), the name of the contact (probably you) and the name of the organization with which you’d like the license associated. We’ll use that information to generate a license file that’s specific to you and your server, and then email that file back to you.
When you receive the license file (named “<product> Server.emlicense”), save it to the server product’s installation folder (“C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign Server 2025\Plug-Ins\Em Software”, for example) and then restart InDesign Server. A product that’s been activated successfully will log a “running for <organization>” message (that also shows the number of days remaining in the license) to the console during startup. Congratulations! You’re ready to go.
(Note: the activation identifier is valid for a specific machine and configuration. Moving the software or changing the configuration may cause the product to stop working. To avoid downtime, please plan ahead and contact us for an updated license file.)
Evaluation
We can also provide free, time-limited (usually 30 days) but otherwise full server licenses for our plug-ins under the Development and Trial versions of InDesign Server.
For a time-limited evaluation license, please perform the installation process above, after we direct you to the download.