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• • February 23, 2023 at 11:29 am #14387871
    Linda Bergeron Szefer

    Participant

    Strange problem while importing Word files into InDesign. Starting about a year ago, images from an imported Word file would be out-of-sight (or out-of-window?) in InDesign, locking the page where their insert point is (i.e. cannot select the text or the textbox) but not affecting previous or following pages as long as they don’t contain images. The only solutions I’ve found so far is to strip the images from Word before importing, or to copy-paste from Word to ID which strip the images automatically. I then extract the images from the original Word file as needed.

    Those Word files are manuscripts for a quarterly non-profit magazine, meaning they are written by different authors, going through editors, proofreaders and re-readers before being finalised by the editor-in-chief who then sends them to me. Everybody works from home on different computers, OS and apps. Lately, people in that workflow have started having problem opening some of those Word files.

    Has anybody encountered this kind of problem? Is there a way to fix it directly in InDesign? What could affect the coordinates of those images to make them out of bounds?

  • February 23, 2023 at 11:33 am #14387872
    Steve Davis

    Participant

    It’s not a strange problem, it’s how the images are embedded in the Word file.
    I have overcome it one of two ways:

    1. Reduced the size of the images in Word before importing
    2. Using FileJuicer on Mac to strip them out and get a “vanilla” Word file without the images
  • February 23, 2023 at 12:43 pm #14387874
    Linda Bergeron Szefer

    Participant

    I’ve been producing this magazine for over 6 years and this problem started recently, hence the ”It’s strange to me””.

    I’ll try reducing the size of the images in Word and I will take a look at FileJuicer.

    Thanks!

  • February 24, 2023 at 2:01 am #14387877
    Petar Petrenko

    Participant

    You can resize the text frame in ID for the image to pop-up.

    • February 24, 2023 at 1:07 pm #14387886
      Linda Bergeron Szefer

      Participant

      In this case, it doesn’t work, even when I go full width, including the pasteboards.

  • February 24, 2023 at 9:06 am #14387882
    Anne-Marie Concepcion

    Member

    There are so many variables affecting this … can you pin down something repeatable? Like, it’s always people who use Mac Word, or PC Word, or is the culprit always a particular image format or source (only Photoshop JPEGs for ex, or only Smart Art from Word) and so on?

    If you have Word, can you open the file there and right-click on the image causing the overset to see if there’s anything wonky there?

    In InDesign, you could open the story in Edit > Edit in Story Editor, and see the icon for the anchored image there. You might be able to select the icon and either delete it or apply a paragraph style to it (could be it has a paragraph or character style applied that sets a huge indent).

    In my LinkedIn Learning video course on using InDesign and Word, I have a couple videos about working with images brought over from Word, though this exact scenario isn’t covered. But you might find some troubleshooting that could help.

    Smarter Workflows with InDesign and Word
    https://www.linkedin.com/learning/smarter-workflows-with-indesign-and-word/work-smarter-with-indesign-and-word

    AM

  • February 24, 2023 at 1:40 pm #14387887
    Linda Bergeron Szefer

    Participant

    Anne-Marie,

    This magazine is about genealogy. The majority of the authors, not all of them, are older people with limited knowledge of their computer (I know because I’ve tried to get some basic technical info from them before); who knows how they work, correct and save their files.

    The images are usually .png and .jpeg, with the odd PDF thrown in. Most of them don’t send separate images, I have to retrieve them from the Word files. My impression is that most of them use a PC with an older OS.

    I don’t actively use Mac Word, it’s only a stepping stone to importing text in InDesign, I admit I’m quite ignorant on how to get info from it. In this particular problematic article, images are grouped with their legend and are slightly hiding the following text, but I don´t know if I would recognize a wonky setting…

    The file they sent me for testing has an interesting problem: in the Preview window, the text stops at the first inserted image, but all the text is visible in Story Editor where that first insertion icon is labeled Overset. I don’t know how to correct that in Story Editor, applying a new correct paragraph style has no effect, but erasing all the insetion points brings back the text. That’s a partial solution.

    I’ll contact the editor-in-chief and ask her to provide some details about what and how they receive their manuscripts.

    Thanks for your reply; I’ll continue testing so I can answer your questions better.

  • February 24, 2023 at 2:05 pm #14387892
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Here are a few articles that may (or may not) help:

    Tips for Fixing Overset Text

    5 Reasons for Unexpected Overset Text

    The Case of the Disappearing Text

    Tip of the Week: Export Images from Word Files

    • February 24, 2023 at 2:16 pm #14387893
      Linda Bergeron Szefer

      Participant

      David,

      Thanks! This will be my weekend reading material… :)

  • February 24, 2023 at 11:50 pm #14387896
    Petar Petrenko

    Participant

    You can also try this:
    When you choose the text file for placing, select “Show Import Options” and then under “Preserve Styles and Formating from Text and Tables” uncheck “Import Inline Graphics”.

    • February 25, 2023 at 8:32 am #14387898
      Linda Bergeron Szefer

      Participant

      Thanks Petar, this is one of the methods I use already to import the Word files; for some reason, with this version of the import preferences, the inline graphics are still present and lock the pages they appear in. I have to erase the inline markers in Story Editor or import a modified copy of the Word file (stripping the graphics pre-import, which is faster). I hope to find the source of the problem and fix it, probably inside Word, instead of going round it.

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