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Grundoon Groundhog
Inspiring
November 3, 2021
Question

Importing Word text and preserving styles in InDesign

  • November 3, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 1287 views

Is it possible to import text into InDesign from Word while preserving italic and bold formatting while NOT importing the overall style as named in Word? I thought I saw an InDesign preference for importing, but can't find it now.

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4 replies

Kasyan Servetsky
Kasyan Servetsky
Legend
November 4, 2021

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.

G
Grundoon GroundhogAuthor
Inspiring
November 3, 2021

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

Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 4, 2021

You can save this import setting. For easier use, I name all styles upon ther functionality in InDesign and not based on their appearance in all projects with the very same name. So I need only select the import preset and it is done.

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Grundoon GroundhogAuthor
Inspiring
November 4, 2021

I'm not sure what import setting you mean. I don't know how to set up a macro. Finding/replacing has worked well, but it sometimes does lose the italic or bold that were in the Word document. Or perhaps I do.

 

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 3, 2021

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.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
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    Grundoon GroundhogAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 4, 2021

    Thanks. The Word files are coming from a variety of authors who are probably all doing different things. I'll try importing with no paragraph styles as well as continuing to search and replace the fonts.

    J
    Community Expert
    Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 3, 2021

    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.

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