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• • August 22, 2023 at 6:41 am #14395188
    N Carroll

    Participant

    My client supplied me with a Word file that’s already in tabular format.

    The data need to flow into an INDD file with 5 columns.
    Columns 2 and 4 will remain empty.

    The Word file has 3 columns that hold the content for columns 1-3 of the INDD file. Column 2 is empty in the Word file as well.

    I’ve formatted the text in the Word file with styles that match the names of my INDD paragraph and character styles.
    The INDD style parameters will replace the Word parameters on place.

    But—and this is the crux of the problem—I can’t place the table into the INDD table (I wind up with a nested table).
    If I paste the data in, I lose all my styles, and the bulleted content from column 3 winds up with its bullets in column 2.

    Yeesh. Any suggestions? (Other than pasting the data in one cell at a time, which no, just no.)

    INDD 18.4, MacOS 12.6.8 Monterey.

    ETA: The INDD table needs to span multiple pages.

  • August 22, 2023 at 6:54 am #14395190
    Jeremy Howard

    Participant

    Hey there,

    Have you tried selecting all of the cells in your INDD table and then pasting? If you only have one cell selected then you will end up with that nested table business.

    If that doesn’t work, consider pasting the table into an excel spreadsheet, copying it from there and pasting into InDesign. I have had some luck with that in the past. Using this method will likely destroy existing formatting but setting up a proper table style should make that pretty painless to deal with.

    • August 22, 2023 at 7:13 am #14395192
      N Carroll

      Participant

      Hi, Jeremy:

      Really do not want to have to redo the formatting all over again.

      It’s not a simple table.

      In fact, I’m only using the tabular structure to align elements vertically and horizontally among columns of data.

      The pasting recommendations I’ve seen specifically recommend selecting only one cell, hence my approach.

    • August 22, 2023 at 7:48 am #14395194
      Jeremy Howard

      Participant

      Perhaps you could upload a sample Word doc that contains a table and an InDesign file to a file sharing service and drop the link here? I would be happy to take a look for you.

    • August 22, 2023 at 7:52 am #14395196
      N Carroll

      Participant

      Thanks for the offer, Jeremy! This material was provided to me under NDA.

    • August 22, 2023 at 8:36 am #14395199
      Jeremy Howard

      Participant

      You could even use dummy data, just in the same structure if you like =)

  • August 22, 2023 at 7:07 am #14395191
    Petar Petrenko

    Participant

    Try this:
    Create 2 additional columns in Word.
    Create a new INDD file with 2 page.
    Add a text frame on the first one.
    Import the Word document.
    SHIFT click on the red + sign on the lower right side of the text frame.

    • August 22, 2023 at 7:33 am #14395193
      N Carroll

      Participant

      Hi, Peter:

      That would work if the table didn’t have to jump the gutter.

      The reason column 3 is blank is that its width is the sum of two facing-page inner margins. 8-(

  • August 22, 2023 at 7:53 am #14395197
    Petar Petrenko

    Participant

    You want to say the table is positioned over the spread??? Columns 1 and on the left page and, 4 and 5 on the right one?

    • August 22, 2023 at 9:33 am #14395202
      N Carroll

      Participant

      Yep, that’s it. Stuff needs to line up all the way across, and unless it’s all one table, that’s not going to happen easily.

  • August 22, 2023 at 8:11 am #14395198
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    I would probably insert the blank column after getting all the other columns set up properly.

  • August 22, 2023 at 8:48 am #14395200
    N Carroll

    Participant

    Some great suggestions here!

    I decided to go ahead and import the table, then resize and restyle it, so I wouldn’t have to restyle the type largely one cell at a time.

    I wish INDD enabled one to specify columns as off limits during import, and offered better support for tables as a master page item.

    • August 22, 2023 at 4:06 pm #14395212
      Jeremy Howard

      Participant

      If you set up a table style properly then you won’t have to restyle the table (not beyond just clicking on the desired table style in the Table Styles palette that is)

  • August 22, 2023 at 10:30 am #14395203
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Actually, I didn’t think of this before, but this article might help:

    Easier import of complex Excel spreadsheets

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