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I need help in importing a Word document into InDesign,.

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
April 7, 2024
3 replies
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I've looked at the various posts, but my problem appears to be unique. I get ot he point where y curser has the word doc attached to it, but when I place it at the top left of the frame, hold down the shift key, and then left click, I get a window that offers: Zoom in or out, Actual Size, Entire Pasteboard, Match Pasteborad, Hide Rulers, Grids and guides, Display peformance. What I do not get is the word file imbedded in InDesign. Can anyone tell me what I am doing incorrctly. I've been at this for hours and searched, but cannot find anthing specifically related to my challenge. HELP!

JMT

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Correct answer James Gifford—NitroPress

There is a fault in the Word doc. This is common. The simplest fix is to place the document and go to the last visible text. Place the cursor at the end, and start tapping DELETE. Usually within 1-10 characters, you delete the faulty element, and the document will continue flowing.

The alternative is to save the Word doc as RTF and try importing that. If you can identify the element that is causing the "choke," you can either delete it from the Word doc (for fixing and pasting in later) or fix whatever format or structural problem it has.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Left of what frame? If the frame is on the parent page, it should place and autoflow the pages. If it's on the live page, delete it and try again.

marilynk1457334Author

Participant

Dirk, Bob Levine & James Gifford - I thank you so much for your suggestions, etc. My challenge is you all know so much and I know so little that somehow I could not follow as well as I would have liked. Eventually I chatted with a human on the Adobe chat line, and after many many trials and tribulations, we came to the conclusion it was probably the word document. That made sense to me, because I have always beena nnoyed by word, because one can accidently imbed hidden codes in the darn system, and unless one is a word programmr, they are impossible to find. I gave up and spent hours re-creating the word file and finally managed to load it on indd. For my next book, I plan on waiting until the last moment before creating the Word file, and make sure I do not let my fingers run away with me on the keyboard. I thank you all again for you helpful comments.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

All good, and sorry you had to take the long way around — although there are many ways to rescue a Word file for successful import, if needed.

But I am confused. If you don't have to "create the Word file" until it's a last step... what are you writing or creating the book in?

It is entirely possible to write.create directly in InDesign. It's not the best "word processor" but if you're using some convoluted approach that might be better.

D

Dirk Becker

Legend

This "window" sounds like a contextual menu.

On the Mac you can invoke the contextual menu with Ctrl+Click as alternative to right-mouse-click.

The Ctrl-key could be stuck somehow, either physically or software glitch.

Walk the modifier keys one by one. Press down, release, next one. Shift, Ctrl, Option, Cmd both sides.

Retry to place the file.

Also, as you mention the shift key (I'd have to play around why you'd use it at all in the place gesture), are you sure about that key? Are you using a special keyboard? Special keyboard driver? Some folks remap Caps-Lock as Ctrl key.

In system settings:

Assistive settings should be set or un-set to your needs, e.g. "single finger keyboard" should be off.

In keyboard settings enable the input menu, from that menu open keyboard overview window, so you can watch the keyboard state as it appears to the OS.

Also in system settings, check the mouse configuration for correct meaning of mouse buttons assigned - has someone flipped meaning of right and left mouse button?

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Does your doc have a primary text frame defined? The text to flow has to go into one, and on a doc page, not a Parent page.

If there's no frame on the page, have you tried dragging out a text frame with the loaded cursor? That's a secondary method but will test if ID is really loading the doc.

marilynk1457334Author

Participant

I have set up the text frame to Justify from the droo down box from object. InDesign is set to Essntials.

When I place, and when the pointer is loaded with test, I point it at the top left corner of the frame and left click. Unfortunately, all that appears is the first page of text, plus another 4 blankc pages -- the word docuemnt is 268 pages in length. The heading under the pages section is A-Parent It does not show as A-Pages. My Mouse is fine, and so is my keyboard - keyboard is only 2 mon ths old and is blue tooth. I only used the shift key, because one solution I found on the net suggested it. Does that explain anything further? to you Dirk?

James Gifford—NitroPressCorrect answer

Legend

There is a fault in the Word doc. This is common. The simplest fix is to place the document and go to the last visible text. Place the cursor at the end, and start tapping DELETE. Usually within 1-10 characters, you delete the faulty element, and the document will continue flowing.

The alternative is to save the Word doc as RTF and try importing that. If you can identify the element that is causing the "choke," you can either delete it from the Word doc (for fixing and pasting in later) or fix whatever format or structural problem it has.

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