Moving Illustrator Text into InDesign

[daredman]

I'm converting a very complicated file from Illustrator to InDesign (CS1).
I've only had one big problem - transferring all the text.
Is there a way to copy the text from ill. and transfer to ID with out losing the formatting? I've tried everything.

The only thing that works is to highlight the text, text block by text block, and paste into ID then reformat. This is by no means my preference but it's the only way I can get it to work.

Any ideas?

 

[vakohles]

As far as I know it is not possible to copy over the formatting. This, I believe, is because of the fact that Illustrator does not have Paragraph or Character Styles and is not meant for long documents to be created within it (and is not Quark, PageMaker, Word, or any other word processing program) . . . you can bring the text in but not the attributes such as font, weight, color, effects . . . that will have to be set up using your Paragraph and Character Styles Palettes in InDesign.

If you set those up first applying them to the rest of your document should be a snap and not as tedious as you might fear.

Good Luck and if you need more details, let me know.

HTH!


InDesign CS, Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, Acrobat 7
Windows XP & MAC OS X (Yes I Use Both, Not at the Same Time)

 

[jmgalvin]

You might try saving your AI doc and then using the place command in ID. Select the saced AI doc and hit Open. It should come in exactly as you did it.

One thing, unless you're going to send the ID doc out in pdf format, you might get more consistent results from printers if you save the Ai doc as an EPS and then place it into ID.

You might also consider doing a SAVE AS (so as not to lose the original text editablity in the AI doc) and then outlining the fonts. This will allow you to easily resize things in ID if necessary. With outlined fonts, you always avoid any font problems at output (like a missing font).

Using OSX 10.3.8 on a G4

 

[vakohles]

jmgalvin -

I have found that in .eps, .ai, and .pdf form all the output gets flattened before it inserts into InDesign, so if you don't ever want to edit the text then that would be valid. Unless you know something I don't know - in which case I would love to know how that method works and allows you to edit the .ai, .pdf, .eps file within InDesign. In which case I appologize for bringing this up.

Also, Outlining the text would not allow you to edit any of the text ever. It sounds to me like daredman is trying to be able to edit his text. And bring in Styles which do not exist.

Would you concur?



InDesign CS, Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, Acrobat 7
Windows XP & MAC OS X (Yes I Use Both, Not at the Same Time)

 

[jmgalvin]

Vakohles:

Yeah, I don't think that trying to edit AL text in ID is so great. Actually i've never even tried it. I would never copy and paste from AI to ID.

If you go back to my first post, you'll see that I suggested that he make a copy of the AI doc and do any work in that copy. About the worst thing you can do is outlie text without having another version of the graphic that maintains editability. Actually i'm a big chicken here, I always work on copies of things so that I don't mess up the original.

I invariably use eps out of habit (I hate to confess my age but it's not young). The text stays editble in ai. You can open the original - that eps - from the Id links pallette, edit it, and then update the link. Once it's set, it can be saved as is or have the text outlined and then saved for final output.

I suggest outlining text to avoid any font problems at a different stage. In my case I very often have to send logos in eps format to others. When I outline I avoid any text problems at the next stage. I also receive a lot of logos from others for inclusion in programs and posters. They always come to me with outlined text. The nice part of this is that everything resizes easily while maintaining the original look.

Everything I do is not necessarily the best way. It's just what works for me - at least most of the time.

Using OSX 10.3.8 on a G4

 

[vakohles]

Yes I have dealt with images in that manner and prefer .eps files and will outline text to do so; however, my point was that you are baisically bringing in the image and not the content that you can edit - like text. But, I will stop that tangent there. I was not in anyway trying to offend you

And you can copy from Illustrator to InDesign - What it does, for text that is selected, is drop all the attributes and if you select the actual textbox frame it will flatten the text and make it (un-editable) an image. Don't be chicken when you are doing stuff like copy and paste between Adobe programs it is the best way to learn what not to do and how to do something better.

(Note: It was because of you, by the way that I set up my Signature to include my operating systems and program versions. Thanks!)



InDesign CS, Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, Acrobat 7
Windows XP & MAC OS X (Yes I Use Both, Not at the Same Time)

 

[vakohles]

I would just like to say sorry. There are Paragraph and Character Styles in Illustrator - And I was semi certain that there were but I have not used them in Illustrator in a long time and I think they have moved since I last did.

So with that said - DOH!

InDesign CS, Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, Acrobat 7
Windows XP & MAC OS X (Yes I Use Both, Not at the Same Time)

 

[vakohles]

As far as I can tell Illustrators Paragraph/Character Styles are non-transferable to InDesign. Maybe there is a plugin somewhere though?

InDesign CS, Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, Acrobat 7
Windows XP & MAC OS X (Yes I Use Both, Not at the Same Time)