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Problems Importing Word into InDesign …

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    • July 28, 2010 at 12:20 pm #56497
      gamouning
      Member

      Hi,

      I usually have success with the Place command when importing Word Documents into InDesign. I use the Customize Style Import option to map the style sheets created in Word and InDesign.

      However, I am stumped as to why I am able to import only 2 pages of 140 pages for this particular directory. This directory information is confidential so if you need to see a copy of the Word 2003 or InDesign CS3 documents, please email me (gamouning@gmail.com) and I can share it with you.

      Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

      Regards,
      Greg

    • July 28, 2010 at 12:53 pm #56498
      Theunis De Jong
      Member

      A company directory .. doesn't sound like there should be any weird features in it.

      Check the Word file, anyway, for anything of the following:

      • Automatic numbers. ID does not import these well (or “at all”). Convert to plain text — the Word Help tells you how.

      • Tracked changes. They confuse InDesign, something like “So do you want this text or don't you? Make Up Yer Mind!”. 'Accept' all changes, then switch it off, to prevent further manipulating the file adding them again. Okay, this should probably have been Bullet Point #1 …

      • Footnotes. You probably need them if they are in there, but InDesign really can't grok footnotes — especially the large, long kind, with tables and figures in them. You could go as far as temporary converting them to Endnotes, import the document, then convert them back to footnotes (manually or with a script — whatever it needs).

      • Tables. ID cannot digest single huge filled cells. Word has no problem with those, breaking the page whereever it sees fit, but ID cannot, and chokes when you try to import one of these.

      • Tables-in-tables. Some very strange things might happen. After importing your text, you can place tables in tables in tables (ad nauseum) but ID cannot, for unfathomable reasons, import them.

      • Oh, and Endnotes also seem to have a sort of maximum length. Kind of odd, because ID does not support end notes, but … if they are too long, ID No Like.

      Generally, when a Word doc takes ID to the edge of insanity, I try first to re-save the document from Word into RTF. Sometimes — but not always — this shakes something loose in the file, and suddenly every piece of the puzzle slides into place.

      If that doesn't work either, I have a fully functional CS3 nearby. I hate to say it (again …) but someone changed something in the Word import filter between CS3 and CS4, and files that simply won't come in into CS4 import fast and flawless and also flawless (let me stress that) into CS3. I'll grant you that one of the visible import improvements is that Cross-references now come in as ID Cross-references, but, frankly, if that's all, I think I could have lived without those.

    • July 28, 2010 at 1:03 pm #56499
      gamouning
      Member

      Hi Jong,

      Thanks for your prompt reply. My directory is not very complicated. The Name, Address, Phone, Email information are each on separate lines. I have only text, no tables. I do use a two column format perhaps that is the culprit. I will try turning this off and doing another import.

      Regards,
      Greg

    • July 28, 2010 at 1:21 pm #56500
      gamouning
      Member

      Update: Changing to one column format didn't fix anything. However, I decided to invoke the Edit in Story Editor command and noticed overset text. So it appears all of my text has been imported but I am unable to flow the remainder of the text onto other pages. This is very strange since the text boxes do have linked text threads. So, help with this problem would be appreciated.

      -Greg

    • July 28, 2010 at 1:50 pm #56501
      Theunis De Jong
      Member

      A-ha.

      Check — with Invisible Characters switched on — for a hard Page break (it looks something like a blue bullet). You can also search-and-replace this code: “^P” with this one “^p” — replacing any Page Break with a simple paragraph return.

      It's also possible ID imported wrong Keep With Next settings. Select all of the text, then call up the Keep With Next dialog. If the “Keep With” field or “Start on” fields are empty, there are mixed settings in the text that may try to keep everything together, or force a new page per paragraph. Enter “0″ for “Keep with next”, and “Anywhere” for the “Start on”.

      And place your cursor somewhere inside the overset text in the Story Editor and check if all of the text has “No Break” applied to it. If ID cannot break a paragraph somewhere, it refuses to fill any further pages.

      (Ed.)

      And another one: if the text imports with a *huge* left or right indent value, ID cannot compose its lines either. You'll only have to check the first overset paragraph for this.

    • July 28, 2010 at 2:24 pm #56502
      Anne-Marie Concepcion
      Member

      Good tips, I'm adding them to my arsenal of “How to Tame Word Files” techniques. ;-) That webinar recording is available, btw, here: https://tameword.eventbrite.com/

      When you import the file you should choose No Breaks from the Manual Page Breaks menu in the MS Word Import Options dialog box. That way ID will strip them on import.

      Sounds like Page breaks/Keep With settings are the culprit. If you weren't sure, I would also suggest copying the Word text from page 3 to the end, pasting it into a new Word doc, and seeing if ID will import that. There may be some corruption in the 2nd page of the Word doc.

      And/or Maggying the file, as I explain in the webinar. (Copy all text in the Word except for the final carriage return, paste it into a new Word doc, place the new Word doc.)

      AM

    • July 28, 2010 at 2:57 pm #56503
      Theunis De Jong
      Member

      Hi A.-M.,

      I've had problematic Word files where I started with removing images, then converted all notes to endnotes, then converted all tables to plain text … until at the end I was left with, really, about as plain as a document could be. It still did not import into CS4.

      Since then I only try save-as-RTF, and if that fails I immediately hop over to 'the old computer' with CS3 :( Today, I tried the import-as-RTF trick, first on CS4 (it crashed), then on CS3 (it thought for a while, then entirely ignored the import command, doing nothing at all). Fortunately, I thought of trying the original Word file again, in CS3 — the very last thing I tried, and of course that worked.

      Oh — if a document does import but there is nothing visible, I fixate the local formatting with character styles and then strip all of the other formatting. That usually does the job.

    • July 28, 2010 at 3:03 pm #56504
      gamouning
      Member

      Jong & AM,

      Thanks for the replies, however after checking the Page Break, Keep With Next and No Break, Import RTF, Word with No Breaks settings, I am unable to get text to flow to additional pages.

      I suspect it is something really simple that is being overlooked. Any other thoughts? Grrr!!!

      -Greg

    • July 28, 2010 at 3:12 pm #56505
      Anne-Marie Concepcion
      Member

      Greg shared the files w/me in Dropbox, and Greg, I figured out the problem. I didn't fix the INDD file you shared with me, Greg, since I didn't open it in CS3, but it's an easy fix.

      The problem is that Hyphenation was disabled for the Address_Information paragraph style, and the line that caused the overset contained a word too long to fit in the narrow column. The line was “Manager, PriceWaterhouseCoopers”.

      If you add a discretionary hyphen — from the Type > Insert Special Character menu — between Waterhouse and Coopers, to both lines (there are two instances in a row here) then the rest of the text will flow through the document. Or make the columns wider (smaller gutter/margins), or change “Manager” to “Mgr.” or turn on hyphenation for those paragraphs or whatever.

      Usually, InDesign will break a too-long word that's not in its dictionary with a best guess … but it can only do this if Hyphenation is enabled for that paragraph.

      Thanks, that detective work is always fun!

      AM

    • July 28, 2010 at 3:26 pm #56506
      gamouning
      Member

      Wow! Thanks Goddess, I would never had figure that one out on my own. ;-)

      Since I don't want all of the soft-hypens, I should be able to insert soft-returns where appropriate, correct? In doing so will this create other problems I need to be concerned about?

    • July 28, 2010 at 3:43 pm #56507
      Theunis De Jong
      Member

      Ouch — good one, Anne-Marie! Yup, that's another one — small columns in combination with long words and no hyphenation.

      Greg, if possible, avoid manual line breaks. Those can be irritating little buggers; one of their more nasty side-effects is that they will forcibly justify the 'current' line, if you are using full justification. (I do hope you don't, though; narrow columns w/o hyphenation ought to be ragged right).

      You can better use “Optional Line Breaks” — hold on while I check what they are actually called … “Discretionary Line Break”, in the popup menu under “Insert Break Character”. These behave like Discretionary Hyphens, in that they can break any word at any place, but they don't show the hyphen.

      You can insert them manually where you think they are needed (if doing that a lot, assign a hotkey to the command), but you can also insert them using regular Find/Change. For your PriceWaterHouseCooperUnlimitedCorporation, search for that, and put this in the “Change To” field:

      Price^kWater^kHouse^kCooper^kUnlimited^kCorporation

      — each ^k will be inserted as a Discretionary Line Break, and ID will use whichever fits best with its current paragraph/line/spacing composer. Inserting multiple ones is no problem at all, ID will pick one and ignore the rest. If your text reflows, it'll simply use another one, whereas with manually inserted line breaks it cannot change the breaking point.

    • July 30, 2010 at 6:31 am #56528
      gamouning
      Member

      Dear AM and Jong,

      Just wish to say thanks again for your tips and assistance on this time sensitive project. I have successfully imported another Word document into InDesign with very little editing. The “Discretionary Line Break” tip was quite helpful in wrapping my text for this project.

      Regards,
      Greg

    • November 10, 2010 at 10:32 pm #57682
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I has many interesting softwares on my PC. But some days ago I ran across an one problem. No one of programs couldn't resolve my issue. I applied for help to the Google and observed there a solution which would help in any problem to my mind – how to word file repair.

    • November 30, 2016 at 2:45 pm #90195
      Jan Underhill
      Member

      I was able to successfully import my first book manuscript into InDesign, retaining the formatting (including many footnotes) and only needing to tweak page breaks and style the chapter heads.

      Now I have another title with even more complex formatting: no footnotes, but verse superscripts throughout the text. I placed it and began work with everything looking fine, BUT the text goes invisible at page 28, with empty text frames numbering over 300 pages.

      Oddly, the text can be placed if I go with letter-sized pages. I am getting a little desperate here…

    • September 21, 2018 at 2:31 pm #110502
      Wasim Ansari
      Member

      Hi All,

      I have a word document with text and table. Whenever I place it in InDesign, it only import one Page and ends with a red dot.

    • September 24, 2018 at 7:55 am #110509
      Wasim Ansari
      Member

      Hi David,

      Thank you for your response.

      I’ve tried that already and even copy and paste.

      Please share your Email. So that I can send you the document directly.

      Thank you.

    • February 20, 2019 at 3:36 am #114477
      Ria Manchanda
      Member

      Hopefully someone will be able to assist with this:

      There is an Indian scripture font called Nirmala UI that I have in a word doc.

      When I import this document into InDesign, some of the characters change even though the fonts are the same. I do not want the characters to change because it’s creating spelling mistakes in the Indian language.

      Is there a way to import the file and making sure the font won’t change the characters? I’ve even tried to copy and paste manually, and the same thing happens – it pastes something else, similar alphabet family but not the correct one that I had in my original word doc.

      Please let me know if you have any tips!
      Thank you for your help in advance!

    • February 20, 2019 at 12:21 pm #114502
      Colleen Shannon
      Member

      Maybe it has to do with Glyphs? Try Preferences > Advanced Type > Missing Glyph Protection or > Composition > Substituted Glyphs

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