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A
Anonymous
June 22, 2018
Answered

Auto-mapping styles from Word to InDesign

  • June 22, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 5212 views

I'm new to InDesign, so please bear with me. I'm trying to link a Word document to my InDesign layout so that the layout can be updated with a click of the "update link" icon if the original manuscript changes. I can do that bit... but the styles I have set in Word appear in InDesign and I don't want that. Instead I want them to map automatically to the InDesign styles I have set up with the same names.

I can do the mapping manually, but that's a pain given that I'll be creating one of these every couple of days. When I file>place the Word doc and "show import options" it has "import styles automatically" set to "use InDesign style definition" for conflicts. You would think that would do it - I have style conflicts for each of the styles I use (since I purposefully set up the InDesign file with styles of the same name), but instead new styles of the same name appear at the bottom of the style panels and, not surprisingly, the text appears how it looked in Word, not how it should look if the InDesign styles were imposed.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer cinziamarotta

Hi,

are you using "Customise style import”? (into Import options window)

4 replies

A
Anonymous
June 23, 2018

Holy Shmoley, Batman! The option was right there all the time. I didn't realize I could save that equivalence map as a preset to use each time. That's perfect, folks.

Thank you all sooooo much.

Barb, you mentioned, "If you need a copy of the Word file with revisions down the road, there are various ways to extract the text." Is there a decent guide anywhere to those various ways? My biggest concern is that writers are generally terrible at sticking to using styles (and not using Word hotkey over-rides for things like bold and italics), so we have a Word template that locks writers into using only the styles we want, and stops hotkey bolding and italics - they have to use styles for those. If I export from InDesign, I'm betting it will be into a file that our writers mess up fast when they do their edits. That would make it much worse when re-importing to InDesign.

-MMK

All Round Good Egg

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 25, 2018

Hi All Around Good Egg:

I don't know a good guide to direct you to. In my experience you can use:

  1. File > Export in InDesign,
  2. WordsFlow from Em Software (WordsFlow  »  Em Software​), or
  3. File > Export to in Adobe Acrobat.

You are likely right about the template issue, and I don't know enough about Word to be able to help.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
A
Anonymous
June 25, 2018

That's fine, Barb. Thank you for your help. I'll check out WordsFlow and see it if can help.

All the best,

-MMK

All Round Good Egg

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 22, 2018

After you map the custom styles, be sure to save your custom style mapping settings so you don't have to do it again (assuming the Word styles don't change from version to version).

If this feature still isn't working for you, check out WordsFlow from EmSoftware.com

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 22, 2018

In cinziamarotta's dialog box, you want to match up the names on both sides. You said you used the Word style names in InDesign, so it should be fairly straightforward. The top row would show Normal on both sides, the second will show Heading 1 on both sides, etc. This directs InDesign to map the word style to the equivalent InDesign style.

If it isn't working, please share the same window that cinziamarotta shows so that we can see what you are doing.

Also, while the linking workflow you are using can be done, I wouldn't call it ideal. Most of us copy the Word documents into InDesign (via File > Place) and edit them there. If you need a copy of the Word file with revisions down the road, there are various ways to extract the text. You may find that linking the Word docs and updating them in Word to be a constricting workflow.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
cinziamarotta
cinziamarottaCorrect answer
Participating Frequently
June 22, 2018

Hi,

are you using "Customise style import”? (into Import options window)

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