Losing Clickable Links and References When Importing from Word to InDesign

[Tytti.Parjanen]

Please help!

Placing Word with lots of interactivity is not working, bookmarks, references clickability gets lost.

Hyperlinks to external sources import ok and work as clickable when exported to pdf.

Tried different docX, doc, rtf, with no luck, running latest InDesign.

Bookmarks import, but are no longer clickable > InDesign uses text anchors, not bookmarks as clickable links to text inside document.

So in pdf i get clickable bookmarks to sidepanel,
but can not create text links to bookmarks - or the orginal linking does not import.

Target:

Boomark: Dictionary explanation of "word" (page 6)

Link:

...text body has the word here <link to bookmark>"word" <link>(page 100)

Also references links to document are not working:

Link:

"Said something"  <link>(Someone 2022)<link> on page 1.

Target:

References (page 300)

<target>Someone 2022 <target>

<Title renamed by MOD>

[Mike Witherell]

You seem to be describing an InDesign feature called cross-references.

InDesign supports existing hyperlinks in a Word docx.

InDesign generates bookmarks from the ToC generator and there is also a bookmarks panel where you can build bookmarks manually, but does not import bookmarks.

Notice when you place a docx with Show Import Options turned ON that bookmarks is not listed there.

Bookmarks in Acrobat are always in its side pane.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

All of this, especially using the Place route (not cut and paste) and with the import options turned on (so that you can review and set all of the, well, import options.) That alone may solve many of the problems, as paste-in and default import are often hard on complicated elements like links.

I'd count on replacing a TOC in InDesign and not importing it.

You also might clean up your Word file before import — Word is prone to file bloat and "junk in the trunk" that can impede a clean import:

• Save the file as RTF, using a new name.
• Open that file and save as DOC, then as DOCX. (Use the new name; don't overwrite your existing versions!)
• One of those files will probably import better than the original, especiall through the Place | Show Options method.

[Tytti.Parjanen]

Not helpful, i do use place with import options. (tried copy paste also)

Have tried different formats.

[Mike Witherell]

There is no support for Word bookmarks when you Place into InDesign. They have to be made in InDesign.

Did you try using the cross-references panel?

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/cross-references.html

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

As noted, bookmarks are a Word thing not supported (through import) by InDesign. So assuming there are still other problems with linked items ID should support, the only thing I can think of offhand is — is the 'Word' file from a genuine copy of MS Word? Or is it from an alternate app such as Pages, Google Docs, etc. and exported to Word format?

That can be a problem, because the clone programs do not write completely clean, compliant files. They are usually good enough to pass around the word processors, but fail to meet the more demanding requirements of applications such as ID. If you're working in such an alternate app, it may be worth it to open the file in a genuine copy of Word and save-as to the three formats, one of which is likely to import as well as possible.

[Tytti.Parjanen]

Hi, I contacted support and hoping for help. Exporting a pdf from the Word is usable. 

InDesing should be made for professionals who use Word files as raw material, so no support for Bookmark function as it is in Word is therefore problematic. + Indesing has bookmark function, its just different and not very functional at this time. Basicly all scientific work has atleast reference links to document itself, some also have a dictionary section.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Well, this sort of wish/complaint/suggestion is made often. However, Adobe and Microsoft are different companies with different products and different markets/aims... and while Word may be more or less the world's standard word processor, Microsoft has a tendency to keep tinkering with its features and functions, not always with complete notice, documentation or adherence to the nominal file standard. It's a given that no matter how much Adobe keeps up and updates/modfies/improves the import, it's never going to be perfect or seamless, and that some manual processing of the document will be needed. It's on the author or designer to pre-process the Word file so that it uses features and structure that is most compliant with InDesign's needs.

And then, as noted above, there is an ever growing list of Word clones/compatibles that produce files that don't fully conform to the file standard and create import/conversion problems all on their own. There have been many threads here where a lot of time is spent on helping a user solve an import problem, and late in the discussion it comes out that the doc is actually from Docs or Pages or Libre/Open, and the import faults are directly traceable to the quirks of those apps' file management — it's not Word's fault at all.

There are third-party apps that take on the heavy work of importing (and sometimes re-exporting) Word files to/from InDesign. If you have a continuing need to go from Word to ID, one of them might be a wise acquisition for you or your shop.

[Tytti.Parjanen]

Pelasin tell More about the plugins?

From Word i can create pdf that works just fine. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

I have not used it, but WordsFlow is a highly recommended plugin/convertor that all but merges Word and InDesign documents. It is a subscription tool from Em Software, and is a bit on the costly side if you don't do a lot of Word/InDesign work. But it may be a solution for you.

Word can export its own structure to PDF quite well, just as InDesign can export nearly any document or interactive feature to PDF without problems. That doesn't have much to do with how one document format converts or imports into the other, though — much of the problem you're experiencing is because Word has a different doc structure and link methods that have to be converted or remapped for InDesign. So you can do the direct export to PDF from either, but Word to ID to PDF is not an equivalent process.

[Tytti.Parjanen]

WordsFlow worked, thanks!

[Mike Witherell]

InDesign is rooted in physical pages and its bookmarks go to physical pages. 

Word's concept of a single continuous page is fundamentally different. Even if the feature was supported, the two would not tend to match up.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Interesting — I didn't know that. So DOCX docs are XML to the point where pagination is virtual? Or is the one-page structure inherent in DOC and RTF as well?

Also, do bookmarks do anything outside of the live document?