Importing a *.csv file into a FrameMaker table

[Cynthia Pao]

Is there an easier way to get content from a *.csv file into a Frame table?

I can export a bug query to csv, but the only way I can see to get that into Frame is copy/paste.

Any tips?

Thanks!

Cindy

[Bob_Niland]

Back one step.
Do you really need to?
Back when I had to deal with incorporating detailed rate.v.setting charts into FM documents, the prior writers had evidently been doing it by copy&paste, with an appalling error rate. I explored various data transfer schemes, and ended up deciding to…

Export from the spreadsheet to PDF.
Import those (and in those days, with an intermediate step through EPS, due to PDF instability).
The PDF images can even have a lot of provenance info from the source, cropped out of frame.

Yes, you won't be able to Xref into or out of such tables, and spanning pages could be extra work, but errors go to zero, and using import-by-reference, the things auto-update.

[Winfried Reng · Accepted solution]

Hi Cindy,

I copy the content from my Excel files and paste (Paste Special as Text) into my FrameMaker file. Then I select this content and convert to a table.

This way I am sure that everything works as I want. Only the content which I need.

However, you can also import the Excel file file directly. Also as reference so that any changes in your Excel file will be changed in your FrameMaker file.

When I import csv, then I can import only as text. This is not a table.

Best regards

Winfried

[frameexpert]

Does the CSV contain a large amount of data? Does the entire CSV become a single FrameMaker table? Is this a one-time import, or does it have to be done periodically? Depending on the answer to these questions, it may be worthwhile to use a script to import and format the data, especially if it is maintained in Excel (or some other program) and just output in FrameMaker.

[Cynthia Pao]

Thank  you for all the great suggestions!

frameexpert asked questions. Here are the answers:

• Does the CSV contain a large amount of data? Not really. The closed issues table is bigger, and it has 70 rows currently and three columns.
• Does the entire CSV become a single FrameMaker table? Yes.
• Is this a one-time import, or does it have to be done periodically? It should be done periodically. Honestly, though, once I do a copy and paste of the whole query, I usually cut and paste rows from the open to the closed table, and also manually add new rows to the open table.

I like Bob's suggestion to import a pdf, so I'm going to try it and see how it works.

Thank you!

Cindy

[Cynthia Pao]

Thank you, Winifried:

Your answer turned out to be the best fit.

I tried creating PDF tables, per Bob, but they did not import the way I hoped.

Best regards,

Cindy