CC 2018 Indesign crashing every time I import a Word .docx

[gregorys84937500]

Macbook Air High Sierra 10.13.4, with Word v16.12.  My CC2017 worked fine when using PLACE with .docx.

Then CC 2018 came along and somehow I was "compelled" to upgrade.  Word 16.12 also came along and now I have horrific problems.  My older templates don't work, and saving as a .doc destroys my italics (and this is a 650 page book, broken up into different docs and using an .indb file, but no way in hell do I want to have to re-italicize or re-bold hundreds of pages of Greek transliterations).  So I NEED to be able to bring in the clean and correctly formatted .docx.  How in God's name does Adobe have it work in 2017 and not be backward compatible in 2018?  Or is this Word 16.12 causing the problems?

By playing and hacking I was able to get text into some docs, and then copy them over to the ones I wanted, or reformat the brand new .indd's and then Load paragraph styles and MasterPages to eventually get what I need.  That worked for 4 chapters.  Now I can't even get that to work, and I shouldn't have to be doing many extra steps anyway simply to bring in a .docx.

Does anyone else have CC2018 working with Word 16.12?

Much appreciated. 

[Derek Cross]

What do you mean you were “compelled” to upgrade to InDesign CC2018?

Did you also keep a copy of CC2017 version on your system as a backup in case you had issues with the upgrade?

Make sure you have duplicate copies of your documents, so you can revert if something goes terribly wrong with your conversion!

Are you using the facilities of the InDesign Microsoft Word Import Options Dialogue box?

Are you aware that Character styles are called Direct formatting in Word and are called Local formatting in InDesign?

Are you aware  of the scripts to convert Word direct formatting to InDesign Character Styles https://indesignsecrets.com/perfectpreptext-a-smart-way-to-style-local-formatting.php

You can look at this stuff in-depth with the Lynda.com online video tutorial (you can get 30-days free): Word and InDesign: Integration

[gregorys84937500]

Thanks, Derek.  I can't quite recall why I started using the 2018 version.  It wasn't me going out looking for it, and once I got 350 pages input by using various work-arounds for over 3 weeks of full-time work, I cannot go back to 2017.  I tried but the CC 2017 as expected would not read the .indb 2018 nor the 6 .indd's created by all kinds of means.  So this evening I finally bit the bullet, created a 2018 .indd from scratch that has none of my Paragraph Styles or Master Pages, and tried the Import Options and was able to get it to work.  Oddly, if I leave Import Options uncheck, InDesign crashes.  That has to be a bug, because before it would just substitute its own font, and then I could do Find Font...  I tried using my 2017 template, and again crash.  But at least I know I can Load my old paragraph styles and eventually reconstitute what I have, so I'll sleep better tonight.  Thx for the option tips, -- I have a subscription to Lynda.com but didn't know about the Word... Integration. 

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

Good luck!

I find it's always best to keep a previous version when upgrading and never upgrade in the middle of a project (sorry if I sound smug!).

Can you not use the IDML method to open your 2018 version in 2017?

[gregorys84937500]

I agree about not upgrading in the middle of a project, but I've always bought my copies of software before, for decades, and this subscription model I thought would be less trouble-free.    I've seen the acronym IDML before, but never had reason to learn it.  Indesign is one massive program, and like Java, you don't learn all about it before you start working with it.  You learn new features usually (at least in my experience) when you need to.  Since I've started reconstituting my old templates, etc in CC2018 I'll just continue with the latest and greatest, and when CC2019 comes out, I'll do some more research/learning before upgrading, including exploring more the Preferences option that I noticed others talking about.  That is, I either learn IDML or I get more work done on the next chapter and finish the new templates in CC2018.  I'll do the latter.  Many thanks for your blazingly fast replies.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Hi @gregorys84937500,

<< That is, I either learn IDML>>

It's not something that takes time to learn! It's InDesign Markup Language, basically a way for an InDesign layout to be saved in a format that's usable in earlier versions. Over the years, we've found that it also can help clear out gode-glunk that causes crashes, so it's very handy to use when problems like yours popup.

To make an IDML of your layout, File / Save As, and choose IDML rather than INDD or INDT. You can now open the IDML in your earlier version of InDesign.

An IDML version is also made when you package a job; both INDD and IDML files are created.

[gregorys84937500]

Ah, so a version of XML, I imagine, and trivial to use.  Nice.  Many thanks, Bevi.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

@gregorys

Looking over your original post, I spot some potential items:

My older templates don't work,

Going from 2017 to 2018 shouldn't have affected your templates, unless you have some obscure setups.

and saving as a .doc destroys my italics (and this is a 650 page book, broken up into different docs and using an .indb file, but no way in hell do I want to have to re-italicize or re-bold hundreds of pages of Greek transliterations).  So I NEED to be able to bring in the clean and correctly formatted .docx.

Correctly formatted Word .docx files should come in seamlessly, especially if you use InDesign's Import options to control how the content is imported into the layout.

But a lot depends upon how the original Word docx was formatted. Reading your post, I'm wondering if there is a font problem between Word and InDesign, or a bad glyph/character somewhere in the Word file.

Or is this Word 16.12 causing the problems?

I think it's your Word documents themselves that are the problems, not the versioning of the software and its files.

My shop specializes in custom workflows for long, detailed documents, and based on what you've said in your post, here are some items recommend in future that can help with your production (I know, these will be of limited value today in the middle of production, and you might already do them):

• In Word, eliminate all manual formatting. A Word template for your author would help them do this easily.
• In Word, use styles for the Greek parts, Greek bold and Greek italics (maybe character styles, maybe paragraph styles...whatever fits the content). In fact, use styles throughout for everything.
• Ensure that OpenType (Unicode) fonts were used in the Word document because they map the Greek characters correctly. For example, the old TrueType and PostScript Symbols fonts have some Greek characters on them, but not a complete alphabet, they're mapped to the old ASCII character encoding system, and they often choke when brought into InDesign.

This kind of Word formatting muck can also be quickly eliminated in Word's Find/Replace, before you attempt to bring the file into your layout. (It's too late in the process to bring all that muck into InDesign where it can crash your system.)

Once you have a cleaned and well-formatted Word.docx file, you should be able to import it with Import Options and select whether to strip everything out when importing (which I doubt you'll want to do for this project), or Map Styles and match the Word styles to those in your InDesign layout.

[gregorys84937500]

Many thanks, Bevi.  I'm considering all these wise words and will pass them onto others (in academia) who may also try their hand at self-publishing and who might be scared of tackling Indesign.