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Shirley27543288jmaw
Known Participant
December 12, 2022
Question

Can't place text from Word

  • December 12, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 699 views

Hi, I have a short book set up in Word but when I use the Place option, only the title page shows...nothing else transfers over. What am I doing wrong? I thought it might be the page breaks?? The book is less than 10k words, not many chapters so I didn't want to break it down into 1-page documents for each chapter. Can you help?

Thanks!

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1 reply

James Gifford—NitroPress
James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
December 12, 2022

It sounds as if the placed file is not auto-flowing to create the needed number of pages.

 

With text frames showing, is there a red plus sign at the bottom right of that first text frame? That means there is more text.

 

Start over, and when you place the doc file, hold down shift. The tiny icon should show a snaking arrow line, indicating it will auto flow the content to multiple pages.

 

S
Shirley27543288jmawAuthor
Known Participant
December 12, 2022
Hi, thanks. I just tried again and it's the same thing. There was a little
red arrow but it was like a ghost copy of what I'd already copied - so it
showed the title again.
As for holding down shift, I'm not sure when you do this? Be the time I've
clicked OK to place the file, it's already working on placing the text, if
you see what I mean...
James Gifford—NitroPress
James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
December 12, 2022

Undo everything you've done; it should be a completely empty InDesign file with no leftovers of things you might have placed before.

 

Grab the Word doc to place, and position the cursor at the upper left-hand corner of the page layout. (I'd show a screen snip but my system hides the ID cursor when I try!)

 

The cursor should look like a little diagram of paragraphs, meaning it's ready to place one page. When you press and hold Shift, it should turn to a snaking arrow, meaning it's ready to auto flow content onto multiple pages.

 

When you click, it should do just that. But other content in the way will mess up the process, so start with a completely cleared page or even a new InDesign doc file.

 

 

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