How to get Japanese vertical text into InDesign?

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
January 7, 2026
4 replies
787 views

Hello,

This should be a simple thing, but I can't get it to work.

I am trying to import Japanese text, vertical from right to left, into InDesign CS5J so I can edit the text.
The text is in Word written vertically and from right to left.
However, when imported it into InDesign CS5 it changes to horizontal.
The format (書式) is set to vertical composition (縦組み) and the text tool is set to vertical (縦組み文字ツール).

I know CS5J is old, but it is what I have and has worked fine until this.

Any help in solving this will be greatly appreciated. Stay safe and enjoy!

Correct answer Joel Cherney

Dirk's suggestion that you try the JP InDesign forum is a very good one. That being said:

I have tried both copy/paste from word and the file> command. The results are the same.
I have tried pasting the content into a text file thinking that would strip the any Word formatting and then both copy/paste and the file> command. Same reuslts.

Stripping formatting by roundtripping through raw text is a good idea. How did you do it? I see you're on a Mac; TextEdit's default format is usually .rtf so it might well be retaining styling information, if copy/pasting into TextEdit was your method. (It has been a few years since I used a Mac regularly, but I recall a "Make Plain Text" menu entry in TextEdit.)

Did you try placing the Word document but stripping out Word styles? There's an option to do so if you check the Import Options box in the Place file select dialog.

What happens if you just start a new vertical text frame in a new document and start keying in Japanese?

Joel Cherney

Correct answer

Community Expert

Dirk's suggestion that you try the JP InDesign forum is a very good one. That being said:

I have tried both copy/paste from word and the file> command. The results are the same.
I have tried pasting the content into a text file thinking that would strip the any Word formatting and then both copy/paste and the file> command. Same reuslts.

Stripping formatting by roundtripping through raw text is a good idea. How did you do it? I see you're on a Mac; TextEdit's default format is usually .rtf so it might well be retaining styling information, if copy/pasting into TextEdit was your method. (It has been a few years since I used a Mac regularly, but I recall a "Make Plain Text" menu entry in TextEdit.)

Did you try placing the Word document but stripping out Word styles? There's an option to do so if you check the Import Options box in the Place file select dialog.

What happens if you just start a new vertical text frame in a new document and start keying in Japanese?

C

conradb77770884Author

Participant

I thought it was a good idea as well, but it didn't work.
There was no "Make Plain Text" option that I could find but there was a "Make RIch Text" option which I tried. And didn't work.

Never thought about the stripping out Word styles option. Tried that and guess what?
It actually worked. Thank you very much for your help.

Stay safe and enjoy!