Karen writes:
The charts generated by iWork Numbers are beautiful and I would like to use some of them in an upcoming Annual Report. I’ve copied and pasted into InDesign, copied them into Photoshop and imported into InDesign as a layered PS file. I’ve also tried converting them to PDF via Photoshop. My Phaser proofs look OK, I just don’t want an unpleasant surprise when the file goes to press. What workflow would you suggest to get high resolution transparent Apple iwork graphics into InDesign?
Well, I have to admit my ignorance about Numbers; I’ve heard great things about it, but have not used it. But whenever someone asks me, “How can I import Excel charts or Corel graphics or [insert some program] files into InDesign,” I always answer with the same list:
- Try getting a PDF out of the program. Typically, you can do this via the Print dialog box. If you have Acrobat Pro, you can print to the “Acrobat PDF” printer.
- If the PDF doesn’t work for some reason, then try opening that PDF file in Illustrator, tweaking it as necessary, and then saving as AI or PDF again.
- If that isn’t working for some reason, then open the PDF in Photoshop. However, this will definitely rasterize the artwork (turn it into pixels), which may or may not be okay, depending on the image/text.
- Of course, you should always see what kinds of file formats the program itself can export. Often they can export PNG or JPG, though the resolution may be too low for print work. But you can try to export a really large version of it as a bitmap and then scale it down in InDesign (scaling a bitmapped image down in InDesign increases its resolution, of course).
As for proofing: You are correct to be concerned. Just because something looks right on a laser printer doesn’t mean it’ll print properly. Try printing a PDF/X-1a file from InDesign, opening it in Acrobat, and zooming in on stuff (and using Acrobat’s other prepress preflighting tools). Does it look right there? Or try printing a part of the document, magnified with the scale percentages in the Print dialog box.
Ultimately, while many people do get some good-looking images out of Excel or other applications, it’s rarely as good and clean as you had hoped. Those programs just aren’t professional graphics apps. There are some charting programs around, but I haven’t seen anything that I could recommend. Anyone remember CricketDraw? Oh, those were the days.
What other workflows do you (readers) recommend for getting these sorts of files out and into InDesign?
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on February 18, 2008
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