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Word to InDesign Becomes Unlinked

Community Beginner ,
Jan 29, 2025 Jan 29, 2025

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I placed a threaded Word document into InDesign and removed styles so I could do a LOT of styling in InDesign. If I rename the InDesign document, the text becomes unlinked. If I update, the Word document overrides my hard work in styling. Is there anyway to avoid this?

 

Same thing if I need to take the InDesign 2025 files into InDesign 2024 for my large screen mac - the file becomes unlinked. HELP!

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Community Expert ,
Jan 29, 2025 Jan 29, 2025

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I've moved this from the Using the Community forum (which is the forum for issues using the forums) to the Account, InDesign forum so that proper help can be offered.


Scroll down here to see a list of the forums:
https://community.adobe.com/

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Community Expert ,
Jan 29, 2025 Jan 29, 2025

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@photogiftexpress

 

I'm replying from my phone - what if you copy your text - contents of the whole Story - to a new document?

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 29, 2025 Jan 29, 2025

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Linking to Word docs (as opposed to just placing their content in InDesign) is a fussy and not very useful option. Changes are not written to the Word file and any update/relink will replace the edited content in ID with the original (or at least current source) file's content.

 

Just place the Word doc, without the linking, and style away in ID. There's no good way to go backwards to Word unless you use something like the WordsFlow plugin, and then it's still best to have a very strong reason to maintain both file versions.


┋┊ InDesign to Kindle (& EPUB): A Professional Guide, v3.1 ┊ (Amazon) ┊┋

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Community Expert ,
Jan 29, 2025 Jan 29, 2025

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I've had some success where Word has the exact same named styles as InDesign.

 

It's a bit of work to add Styles to Word - but they can be mapped to InDesign styles and then the update is seamless enough. 

 

But usually I have received fully signed off Word docs that I use to design the layout and then it wouldn't be used again unless it was completely new content. 

 

Any edits to the document is then done through PDF annotations. 

 

I wouldn't be accepting a new Word doc for updates, hasn't really come up really. 

Maybe some more background into your workflow could add some insights for a way to manage your requirements. 

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2025 Jan 30, 2025

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Thank you for these answers! I did place the text (and usually only place from RFT), but somehow it still refers to the document as 'linked'. I guess I'll make sure to not change names from the file that contained the word doc. I did change back to the file names that I had saved previously and the problem disappeared.


But this has me wondering why when I placed the text InDesign shows it as linked. But at this point in the long game of the book I'm designing, it is a moot point. But I would like to know the difference between placing and how it linked for future books.

Again,

Thank You!

 

 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2025 Jan 30, 2025

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@photogiftexpress

 

There is an option in Preferences to link to the source when text or Excel files are placed. 

 

You must have it ON. 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2025 Jan 30, 2025

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That's it, although a little experimentation seems to show it shuts back off with the end of each session. That might have been my error or a glitch.

 

Short advice, though, to the OP and anyone who finds this thread: turn it off and never look back. Trying to keep a source text file linked to an active ID doc is a quirky niche need and riddled with gotchas. Import via Place, format in ID, one-way operation.

 

(Again, those who need to manage a two-app workflow swear by WordsFlow; I haven't used it but it's much more powerful than the native InDesign file-link option.)


┋┊ InDesign to Kindle (& EPUB): A Professional Guide, v3.1 ┊ (Amazon) ┊┋

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2025 Jan 30, 2025

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Hi @photogiftexpress:

 

Can we assume you are using Preferences > File Handling > Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files to link the Word document? 

 

It's an awkward workflow, IMO. You will want to apply styles in Word, and then map those styles to the equivalent styles in InDesign. You can modify the style definitions in InDesign but must make all text edits, and assign additonal formatting in Word, and then update the link in InDesign.

 

If you edit content or assign different styles in InDesign it will all look fine. However, if you return to Word and edit, you'll see an alert in InDesign that indicates that the file is out-of-date, and updating will wipe out all of the InDesign edits. The same thing is happening when you rename a file and then update the link. 

 

If being able to maintain an up-to-date Word file is the goal here, I would definitely take a look at Worksflow from Em Software. It's a much easier way to work and it offers round-trip editing. You can edit in Word and InDesign picks up the changes. Or you can edit in InDesign and Word picks up the changes.

 

Otherwise, I just wouldn't link the Word docs.

 

~Barb

 

EDIT: My apologies if I repeated what was already said. Only @Peru Bob was on the thread when I started my answer.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2025 Jan 30, 2025

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quote

EDIT: My apologies if I repeated what was already said. Only @Peru Bob was on the thread when I started my answer.


By @Barb Binder

 

Good stuff, happens me all the time, find a tab in the browser I opened half an hour ago and hit send not realising others have replied, happens me all the time.

 

However, it just reinforces and backs up the other advice given so far, great stuff!

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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So,. check me on this, Great Minds.

 

Linking in a Word file is useful only in a scenario where one person writes and maintains a document in Word, using fairly careful formatting and clean structure, that can then be imported into an ID framework, with mapped styles etc., and then polished up for publication using ID's stronger tools... and the process can be repeated, the document updated, by just re-llinking the original file.

 

This would be good for things like policy and procedure manuals, employee handbooks, etc. where an SME writes the material in a simple tool and then an ID user turns out a polished version with little effort, once the process is set up.

 

But I really can't think of another 1% use for the feature, over simply importing a Word file and formatting it in ID as a one-way process. Even for many intances of the above kind of workflow.


┋┊ InDesign to Kindle (& EPUB): A Professional Guide, v3.1 ┊ (Amazon) ┊┋

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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InCopy will beat this workflow any day of the week. 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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Assuming you can get Marge in HR or Bob in Manufacturing to use it. 🙂


┋┊ InDesign to Kindle (& EPUB): A Professional Guide, v3.1 ┊ (Amazon) ┊┋

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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Assuming you can get Marge in HR or Bob in Manufacturing to use it. 🙂


By @James Gifford—NitroPress

 

Then they won't be able to create a "good" DOC/RTF either 😛 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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Of course not. But getting the average office denizen to use some "weird" piece of software is a much steeper battle than the only mostly-impossible task of getting them to use styles in Word.

 

(Have I mentioned that I once ran a company whose lifeblood was reports etc. in Word, and I was all but forbidden from "wasting our peoples' valuable time" with some basic Word techniques sessions. For over ten years. While sorting out mangled and broken Word docs every single day on a crisis basis — the ones 'our people' didn't sort out on hours of their own time.. ...? That's an extreme case, but most companies don't stray too far from its essence.)


┋┊ InDesign to Kindle (& EPUB): A Professional Guide, v3.1 ┊ (Amazon) ┊┋

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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Thank you everyone for you great and helpful responses. As to Preferences, I did not check create links to text of graphic files.

As a habit, I don't have to go back to a source file. In this case, I tried saving my InDesign documents so I could open it on my larger screen mac in InDesign 2004. Unfortunately, this is where it started. I had all my correctly named files and folders inside of my main file but it didn't work. As a result, I've just gone ahead and found a nice, large monitor to extend my new Macbook Pro M4 (a real workhorse by the way). Problem solved.

I have a really strong aversion to all Microsoft applications - I've had this for a number of years and prefer to work with Adobe. So no more worries.

I'm not going to worry about the names of the Word file. I also realize I need to take some time to learn InCopy so I can teach my editor.

Happy and Thankful for all of you!

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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@photogiftexpress

 

InCopy is just a limited version of InDesign - with all text editing options available.

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 31, 2025 Jan 31, 2025

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To second Barb's (and others)--just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

The link to Excel files works great when set up properly, but the Word link is troublesome. Word always seems to have some formatting "clutter" even when mapping styles. 
Use EmSoftware's WordsFlow or don't link. (BTW, they have DocsFlow for using Google Docs too.)

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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