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Jörg2781055446ru
Participating Frequently
January 5, 2023
Answered

Is there a new doc on the attributes & their meaning of tags for importing *.txt files into InDesign

  • January 5, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 3217 views

Hello *,

is there a newer doc on the attributes and their meaning of tags for importing *.txt (paragraph formats) files into InDesign.
I had a PDF file here about "Using Adobe Indesign CS5 tagged text"...that is from 2010.

Regards
Jörg Fuhrmann

 

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This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Manan Joshi

Adobe rarely updates these documents and sometimes they are hard to find even. Having said that these old documents are good at describing the idea behind the format and also list the properties that were present at the time. Once you have the knowledge on the logic behind the format you can easily accomodate to the new properties by applying it and exporting the format you are interested in like IDML, Adobe Tagged Text etc. The exported file can then be studied to identify the property of interest and its syntax.

-Manan

3 replies

Joel Cherney
Community Expert
Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 5, 2023

What are you trying to do with tagged text import? I have not seen it used very much in the last decade. Typically, people seem to go with XML import/export, at least in cases where simply exporting & re-importing idml will not work. Indesign Tagged Text was quite useful Way Back When as a way to e.g. export content from a database in a more readily ingested format than raw text. 

 

The reason I'm asking is that every single time someone has asked me about Indesign Tagged Text, there has always been an easier solution to their situation than using tagged text. That may not be the case for you. I personally would find it exciting if your Indesign workflow project used Tagged Text meaningfully, but as a frequent Indesign workflow-automation wonk, I would be surprised if there wasn't some faster or easier way to achieve your aims.

 

But if there is not, then I think that Robert and Manan already have your answer for you. 

    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Legend
    January 5, 2023

    I think ITT is much easier to use than XML as it's much simpler to prepare the contents. 

     

    I've used it to generate calendar data as a Story to flow between TextFrames - kind of what I've suggested few weeks ago on another thread - and also as a part of a workflow - about 50 different publications - of the Polish Patent Office to import data from their databases - it was much easier than them updating their system 😉

     

      M
      Community Expert
      Manan JoshiCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      January 5, 2023

      Adobe rarely updates these documents and sometimes they are hard to find even. Having said that these old documents are good at describing the idea behind the format and also list the properties that were present at the time. Once you have the knowledge on the logic behind the format you can easily accomodate to the new properties by applying it and exporting the format you are interested in like IDML, Adobe Tagged Text etc. The exported file can then be studied to identify the property of interest and its syntax.

      -Manan

      -Manan
        J
        Jörg2781055446ruAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        January 5, 2023

        Thanks for the info.

        Robert at ID-Tasker
        Robert at ID-Tasker
        Legend
        January 5, 2023

        Don't think there is but the best way to "reverse engineer" Tagged Text info is to prepare sample text and export it and check what's inside. 

         

          J
          Jörg2781055446ruAuthor
          Participating Frequently
          January 5, 2023

          Thanks for the info...this will probably be the best way.

           

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