Importing Word text and preserving styles in InDesign

Here's a script I wrote for my workflow:

http://kasyan.ho.ua/indesign/text/protect_local_styling/protect_local_styling.html

Also, at the bottom are links to three similar scripts.

Yes, that's what I've been doing: finding and replacing. I just wondered if there was a way to avoid that step. Thanks!

When placing your Word file, select "Show Import Option" first. 

Then do the find/change that @Jeffrey_Smith suggested.

IF the Word user used Character styles (unlikely or you probably wouldn't be stripping out all the formatting) you can map the Word character styles to your ID character styles and set the Word paragraph styles to No Paragraph Style.

Are the bold and italic actually styled (with a character style) or applied bold and italic for each situation?

If styled, when importing, you can map and choose ID style, Word style, or ignore.

If applied bold and italic, here is the workaround I use: import word doc retaining these attributes, then search for "bold" text and replace with a "character style" that has the proper font attributes needed.