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A
Anonymous
June 22, 2020
Question

LaTex or PDF to InDesign

  • June 22, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 13236 views

I have to typeset an article in InDesign which contains mathematical equations. Only the LaTex and PDF formats are available. When I convert the PDF to MS Word the equations does not come clean.

Is there are specific tool that I can use to get the LaTex for typesetting in InDesign?

Thanks

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4 replies

B
Bars29769481vyop
Participant
May 7, 2023

A couple of years late, but maybe you'd be interested in takig a look at this script.

https://www.reddit.com/r/indesign/comments/13aqeex/latex_integration/

    T
    TejadaCapellan
    Participant
    July 30, 2023

    Thanks a lot for answering this request and posting a link to this script! Although I do not use InDesign on Windows,  it is just a matter of time before an expert InDesign developer found this script and adapt it to work n Mac OSX.

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    June 25, 2020

    Adding to @Test_Screen_Name's excellent reply.

    You have a difficult workflow for these reasons:

    • PDFs are not editable (for the most part)
    • InDesign treats PDFs as static graphics, not live, editable, formattable text.
    • InDesign doesn't import LaTex, although some folks have written scripts to import it. For example, see Latex-to-InDesign
    • There are few equation editing plug-ins for InDesign, and they have limitations.

     

    Another clunky workaround is:

    • In Acrobat, export the PDF to Word (this provides live, editable text, but the equations are lost or garbled).
    • Bring the text portions into InDesign, where they will be editable.
    • Place (import) various parts of the original PDF where there is an equation. This will essentially make the PDF a graphic of the equation. Or recreate the equations in some other program, export as PNG/JPG graphics, and place as graphics in the InDesign layout.

     

    What the industry needs is a full-featured plug-in that can import LaTeX/TeX and retain the equations.

     

    You can vote for that feature on Adobe's UserVoice website Vote For LaTeX in InDesign  But that might not happen in our lifetimes <grin> so maybe a 3rd party coder will step up. 

     

    |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bevi Chagnon &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Designer, Trainer, &amp; Technologist for Accessible Documents ||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PubCom |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Classes &amp; Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs &amp; MS Office |
    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 25, 2020

    Ok, I think I can say you are trying to find a trick to do the impossible. It is known Knuth invented TeX to enable typesetting math, and it remains the most capable tool in that area. If these equations cannot be set directly in InDesign, then you can't find a trick to import them as editable, flowable objects. There are commercial tools for PDF import to InDesign, but I doubt this will work. So you have made an impossible challenge for yourself. I suggest you take InDesign out of the equation, and use the LaTex file for your typesetting needs. If it must finish in InDesign, perhaps because it is part of a book, then finish the pages in LaTeX, and place as PDF which will not need to be edited. For example, I feel sure typesetting in two columns is a task LaTeX can do. You might use InDesign to add page numbers or similar folio level information.


    Alternatively, look for extensions to InDesign that are designed to enable entering equations. Reset and retype all. This is a much more painful choice.

      T
      Test Screen Name
      Legend
      June 22, 2020

      Don't go through Word! Place the PDF in InDesign. 

        A
        Anonymous
        June 25, 2020

        The PDF is in single column. I need to typest this in double column. And sometimes the text needs to be edited. When the PDF is placed it does not allow any changes. Any ideas?

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