Problems Placing Word File Into InDesign

[anonymous9295]

Hi,

Whenever I try to Place a Word file's text into InDesign, this pops up (also attached for reference if you can't see it here):

Boxes with a red circle instead of the text appear on my screen. When I try to click anywhere to add text, it just gives me another box with a red circle. I see the text hovering near the cursor before I click, so I don't know why it's doing that.

How can I export word files and keep all formatting into InDesign when my program's Place function isn't even working?

Thanks!!

[BobLevine]

That's a table with overset text.

[anonymous9295]

Thanks for your quick response, Bob Levine! How do I fix it? I tried expanding the table, but the text remains near the cursor, and when I click to try to expand the table, just another overset table pops up.

[BobLevine]

Without seeing the Word file it's tough to tell, but I would start by fixing anything there before importing it into InDesign.

[anonymous9295]

Thanks again for your speedy response. What things should I fix in the Word Doc? It has a header, footer, page numbers, images, two columns, and only two dividers (that are just lines) on each page. Is any of that problematic for exporting into InDesign?

[anonymous9295]

I tried deleting the page numbers, headers, and footers, because I thought I'd manually add them back into InDesign, but I'm still experiencing problems with the "Place" function.

[BobLevine]

When you place the file, be sure to show options. That will allow you to make some choices that may or may not help.

[anonymous9295]

Thanks again for your patience, Bob. I did. I first clicked "preserve styles and formatting from text and tables, and all the import options (ex: "import inline graphics"), but nothing but that table popped up. Then I opened up another inDesign file and tried "remove styles and formatting from text and tables" just in case I misread the instructions and that was what I was supposed to do, but still only the table popped up. I tried expanding the table but even when it's a full page, that red dot still is visible, which means that it still thinks there is overset text, yet? How do I fix this?

Thanks again for helping me with this.

[BobLevine]

Is there a very large table in the Word file?

[anonymous9295]

No, but there are two columns on each page--I don't know if that counts. It's a newsletter.

I don't know if any of this is relevant information, but I'm including it just in case:

Header: There is a logo on the top left, the magazine name in text on the right along with three other text lines. Line divider between header and body.

Footer: Line divider between header and body. Magazine name and page number.

[Barb Binder]

My guess would be that the columns in the Word doc were set up using a table and not with the columns command.

You can use Word's Table > Convert Table to Text command but the columns will then appear under each other. Use a clear delimiter like an * so that you can figure out where the second column went, and then cut/paste it back into the correct order.  Repeat for each set of cells.

~Barb

[anonymous9295]

Thank you Barb Binder for your response. I checked the word document's specifications and it said it was created using two columns. What other problems could this stem from?

[BobLevine]

I agree, Barb.

This sounds like a garbage in garbage out situation.

[anonymous9295]

Well, how do I fix this so it wouldn't be "garbage?" What am I doing wrong in Word that makes it "garbage?" 

[BobLevine]

Put the Word file in Dropbox or Onedrive folder and post a link so we can take a look at it.

[anonymous9295]

So this is what it looks like on my end: [REDACTED]

And here's what the word file looks like:[REDACTED]

ut then when I upload it to OneDrive or Dropbox, it looks different. OneDrive somehow formats it as tables instead of columns (though as you can see in the above image, I used columns), and Dropbox uses a different font, which messes up the formatting. Same for Google Drive. Suggestions? Thanks again for your patience with me so far.

I'm inDesigning this as student volunteer work, so I don't know much about inDesign as I'd like to yet.

[Test Screen Name]

I’d say far too much layout has been done in Word. You can’t expect it all to remap. Reduce the Word document to a simple one column text flow without headers or footers and import that. NOW start work on the layout. The very fact that you are saying that actions “mess up the layout” mean you’ve done too much of it. Or, to be honest, since the design already looks handsome and finished, why do you want to involve InDesign at all. 

[BobLevine]

Those are just previews. I'll ask you one more time to post a link to the file so we can take a look at it. Without that, there's no point in even continuing this discussion.