Logically, InDesign would better support earlier Word formats with less bells and whistles than the newer Word formats. ...but some things are not logical in DTP.
If challenged with importing DOCs to INDD files, try saving RTFs from Word. Dumbing down a file to a more universal format like RTF will aid in importing into InDesign.
- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?
What I mean by newer version of Word is Word 2003 or XP (Office 2003 or Office XP).
I'm investigating if newer versions of Word (or InDesign CS) have better import/export capabilities. Someone I work with mentioned that they may have.
Yes, I am still having problems with the index -- I'm trying to understand why it won't work so in future I know what to do instead of tearing my hair out.
One of my more technically minded colleagues exported the ID file to Adobe InDesign tagged text; and he identified the index problem as some hyperlinks at the end. This is what was causing ID to choke when the index was generated. Where these hyperlinks came from, I don't know.
We think the ID template we're using is completely corrupt(when I try to open them in ID, it crashes), so have created a new one. But where do these hyperlinks come from? I suspect from the Word file but am not sure.
I don't think the problem is so much a result of Word's export abilities, but ID's import abilities. ID is a large improvement over Pagemaker, which always choked on Word docs being placed. But it is still not a painless process, and if you have styles in Word with similar names to those in your ID doc, you WILL run into problems. I can only imagine that a newer version of Word would exacerbate problems, not make them less.
As jimoblak stated, and I agree 100%, your best bet may be to save the Word doc as an RTF file, and then place that into the ID document.
One other point, you said your template was corrupted. If you create a file, then save it, and use that as a template, changing info, deleting and adding, etc. then you could be causing corruption. If you have not, or are not already, create your template, and then save as a new doc every time you need a new doc, leaving the original file untouched for next tme. This will help guard against corruption.
I was tearing my hair out trying to use Word to DTP so I bought Indesign CS. I thought that I would be able to open my Word documents and they would be displayed fairly well but...
It seems that indesign cannot open word documents in the usual way. Instead indesign can "place" word documents but...
For example I have a Word document of 4 pages. I create a document of 4 pages in Indesign. I then go to place a word document.
The text arrives complete unformatted, pasted upon the first page. In fact the formatting is different. The original is horizontal, Indesign imports as plain verticle text. I found out how to display the text horizontally instead of vertically.
Is there an easier way of importing word documents? I have tried saving my word documents as rtf and it makes no difference.
Do I have to start formatting my Word files from scratch?
Could you expalin exactly how you are placing the Word text -- it should be formatted. Are you placing it (Crtl+D) or just copying from Word and pasting it in InDesign?
I'm really at a loss as to why your text comes in unformatted.
I just opened up a new document in InDesign, chose File>Place and then placed a Word 2000 file -- all the formatting was placed intact.
Is there anything else you can tell us about the Word file you are placing, or the InDesign file it is being placed into? I.e. is it a based on a template or just a plain old new document (File>New)?
Although you're not supposed to (placing is always better), try to copy the text in Word (Crtl+C) and paste it directly into an InDesign document(Crtl+V)-- what happens then?
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