Can You Upload a Word Document in Indesign

Converting a Word document to an InDesign document is not a simple job.
Actually, since some operations are always required when you import a Word document into your InDesign file, I'd say that we can't even talk about conversion.

Also, if the Give-and-take file you want to convert is complex, you'd probably finish up completely creating it from scratch inside InDesign. Unfortunately, there is no software that can convert Give-and-take to InDesign, merely yous can larn how to ready both the Give-and-take document and the InDesign file correctly, so that the transmission conversion will be less painful and time-consuming.

Every bit a side note, if yous demand to utilise Discussion to create an substitution file for translation, I highly encourage you to utilize a specific tool (like Redokun). Your translation bureau will be much happier to receive an XLIFF file instead of a Word document, and your in-firm translators volition dearest the simplicity of the integrated translation tool.

In this tutorial we will encounter:

• How to import a Give-and-take certificate into InDesign
• How to link a file Word into InDesign
• [Pro Tip] Use master pages to automatically flow a Discussion certificate (update)

Import Give-and-take files in InDesign

When having to deal with a coworker or client who needs or wants to edit the text inside your InDesign document, the best solution is to prepare your InDesign file beforehand. Equally we've seen for the spreadsheets in Excel (here's the post: Link InDesign tables to Excel), y'all can link also Word files inside an InDesign document.

Linking Word documents to an InDesign file is bully because information technology allows you to work on your layout within InDesign and your coworker, client, or whoever has to type the content to work in a software much simpler (and cheaper), like Microsoft Word.

This method requires a little bit of work to get started, but trust me, for about jobs it'southward a life-saver.

If y'all set your Paragraph Styles and Graphic symbol Styles properly, you'll take null to do but watch InDesign automatically lay out the content.

Here is a postal service that goes deeply into Paragraph Styles and Character Styles that covers great avant-garde features like keep options, nested styles, and others in a practical case scenario — subscribe to our newsletter to go on up with other helpful posts.

Setting upwardly the source file

When you import a Word document into an InDesign file, the default settings are to besides import the styles applied to the text in Word. This creates in your InDesign certificate the same Paragraph Styles used in the Word certificate. You can leverage this feature to override the advent of the imported text (we will encounter later on how to exercise then) and brand the import in InDesign and layout of the text very apace.

However, be aware that the conversion from Word to InDesign may lay out the text differently from the fashion you'd do it manually. For example, if I had to create a bulleted list inside InDesign, I would use a Paragraph Style. The conversion instead applies the bulleted text characteristics as an inline belongings.

I have a elementary 1 folio document in Word that I want to import into my document in InDesign.

Notice that I used the styles in Give-and-take to lay out my text (yes, you can also create your own styles in Give-and-take – encounter this guide or this video – like to how yous would do it in InDesign with Grapheme Styles). Like in InDesign, pay attention to not set inline backdrop to the text inside Word.

In other words, if you have to change the characteristics of the text, don't do that direct to the text, merely modify the manner properties because those inline backdrop volition too be kept in the text in InDesign, and if you lot want to apply a different style inside your InDesign document, you'll have to manually override each part with inline styles applied. This is very important if you desire to take control over your document and lay out the text rapidly.

Come across here what happens if you lot utilise inline styles to the text in Discussion (left), and what happens if y'all don't (correct).

As you can encounter in the left screenshot, close to the Paragraph Mode name there is a '+' marker, which is not present in the screenshot to the right. Also, the 2 strings clearly accept different styles.

The '+' marker is shown close to the Paragraph Style name any time at that place is an override of the style applied to the text. This means that the text in the left screenshot doesn't respect the Paragraph Fashion. Instead, the screenshot to the right shows the text with the right Paragraph Fashion that I created.

Import the Word certificate

1. In InDesign, click File in the main bill of fare bar and and so Place (otherwise, y'all tin can printing Cmd+D on Mac Os or Ctrl+D in Windows). Equally mentioned above, be sure that the styles in the Word document are correctly set to the text.
   

2. Click on Options and check Show Import Options in the import window (if it's not already checked), select the file and click Open to import the Give-and-take file into InDesign.
   

In this window, yous tin personalize a few settings. Generally, the default settings are OK. However, you lot should pay special attention to these settings:

• Preserve Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables
• Transmission Page Breaks
• Import Styles Automatically

If you select "Remove Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables", yous'll import only the manifestly text from your Give-and-take file (without the styles).

3. Let's import the Discussion file with Preserve Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables activated. This will import the text and emulate the Styles of the Word file in InDesign.
   

Lately, we will and so change those styles created past the import and see what happens when we import the same certificate again.

4. Click OK and and so draw a text-frame in InDesign to identify the content of your Word file.
   

See, the text in InDesign (right) has the aforementioned styles and appearance of the text in Word (left).

We are going to override the settings of the Paragraph Styles.

Every bit you come across, near the imported Paragraph Styles there is an icon that shows that the Manner has been imported, and none of the backdrop is overridden.

5. Double click on "Heading 1". In Basic Character Formats, set up Montserrat as Font Family, bold as Font Style, 19 pt for size, and change Case into All Caps.
6. Then in Character Color, set C=100 Thousand=90 Y=x K=0 (it's a color that is shipped by default with InDesign; if yous can't notice information technology, create information technology or just skip this setting).
   

Find that the icon close to the Paragraph Styles "Heading 1" is not nowadays any more than.

Permit's alter also the styles Heading 3 and Body Text with the post-obit properties.

Heading 3: Source Sans Pro, bold, 12 pt, color: C=100 M=90 Y=10 Yard=0;
Trunk Text: Source Sans Pro, regular, 12 pt, colour: Black, tint: 75%;

Now the text you imported from the document in Word to InDesign looks like this.

7. Allow's import the same Word document into InDesign and encounter how the text looks this time.
   

InDesign tells us that there are Style Name Conflicts. Under Paragraph Fashion Conflicts and Grapheme Mode Conflicts, you can decide to:

• Use InDesign Styles Definitions: This overrides the styles of the text imported from the Word file to the InDesign certificate.
• Redefine InDesign Styles: This deletes the settings in InDesign that override the text imported from Word to InDesign.
• Car Rename: This imports the text with the styles in Word and creates new styles in your InDesign document.

We select Use InDesign Styles Definitions and import the text from the Word document into InDesign as we did previously.

See, InDesign automatically set the new characteristics to the text yous imported from the Give-and-take document.

How to link a file in Word to InDesign

Now that we've seen how the migration of a file from Word to InDesign works, we can see how to link a Word file into an InDesign document, and how this great characteristic can help usa.

Ready the preferences

1. Click on InDesign (on MacOS) or Edit (on Windows) in the main menu bar, go to Preferences in the bill of fare that opens, and click on File Handling...
   

2. Bank check Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files in the File Handling window and click OK.
   

Place the Discussion file

3. As mentioned in a higher place, be sure that the styles in the Discussion document are correctly prepare to the text and import the text as we've seen before. If you already created the Paragraph Styles with the same names of the Styles in Discussion, InDesign will override the settings of the text imported from Word.

Please notice that at present, in the Link menu, the link to the Word file has appeared.

4. Let's add some text to the Word document and encounter what happens in InDesign.
   

In the Link card, next to the name of the Word file, InDesign shows a alarm triangle that indicates that the linked file has been modified. If we double click on the triangle, InDesign will ask to update the content.

Delight find that if you update the linked content, you lot'll lose all the changes made to the same text previously imported in InDesign (either graphic or textual).

Here is the upshot of the update.

Remove link with an imported Word certificate

In case you desire to remove the link to the file Word in InDesign, double click above the link to the file and so select Unlink.

Import a Word file with a table to InDesign

Y'all can import into InDesign a Give-and-take file that contains 1 or more tables. Nevertheless, InDesign doesn't fix a Table Style to imported tables, equally it does with normal text, even when the tables within the Word file take a Tabular array Style practical. Instead, inline style applied to the tables in Discussion are kept.

If you want to import a Word file that contains tables into InDesign, and speedily lay out the imported tabular array, you should utilise InDesign Table Styles (see here to learn how to use InDesign Tabular array Styles). The best manner to bargain with an external table, however, is past using a spreadsheet in Excel (come across how here).

A few caveats

Footnotes: They work, just you can't control the fashion inside InDesign so be very careful with using them and fix the style you lot want in the Word file, and then that you'll continue it that way when you import the Discussion document to InDesign.
Images: If you lot place images within a Word document, InDesign will import them as embedded images. I'd highly discourage yous from doing so because in one case an epitome is embedded, you won't be able to edit it (here is how to properly insert images in your documents). Linking images is always the best solution because it keeps the file size downward and makes piece of work more efficient (assuasive you lot to update the epitome).
Shapes: Who needs to import shapes from a Discussion document to an InDesign file? That's what InDesign thinks. If y'all apply shapes in your Word file, InDesign won't import or convert them.

Translating a give-and-take certificate? Here is a free e-book about how to optimize your Give-and-take documents.

[Pro Tip] Apply master pages to automatically flow a Word document (update)

InDesign master pages are very handy and powerful, but many users surprisingly don't know their full potential.

InDesign can load an entire story from a Word document automatically, creating pages and threading text-frames. This, combined with what we've just seen together, can save you lot loads of fourth dimension and nearly completely automate the process.

How do you do that? Bank check out this weblog post to see how to utilize InDesign Master Pages to catamenia your Give-and-take certificate automatically.

In addition to this feature, here are a few other posts related to becoming the "main" of the text in your documents:

• Best tips to fixing overset text in your documents
• How to turn off hyphenation in InDesign
• How to create beautiful Driblet caps

Exist more than efficient with plugins

Link documents in the cloud

I recently wrote this article almost plugins (40 Essential InDesign plugins, add-ons, and utilities) and found a very nice one chosen WordsFlow. This plugin makes information technology possible to link a Give-and-take with InDesign. It enables you to edit both the InDesign story and the documents in Give-and-take or Excel independently, without losing work on either side. WordsFlow maintains a dynamic link so it can intelligently merge external document changes into the InDesign story contents on each link update, rather than just replacing the story. You tin notice WordsFlow – and attempt information technology for free – here.

Import the Word file using automatic semantic structuring

I found some other extension that is worth checking out if you desire to import your text from the Give-and-take file in a clean and semantically structured mode to and so apply your styles in InDesign.
The plugin uses the Bookalope web services, which work with an AI to strip away all visual styles and cleans up the certificate automatically, and then exports a semantically structured document to InDesign.
The InDesign document will of course have all styles that you lot can quickly edit and layout the certificate. Even better, all styles are already mapped to HTML tags for your ebook consign as well.

Until next fourth dimension,
Stefano

gratwickpaun1988.blogspot.com

Source: https://redokun.com/blog/word-to-indesign

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