From Studio to Indesign
Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
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Jan 25, 2023

Can anybody give advice on how to import a file from MS Word to Adobe Indesign indd?

 
Natalie
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What do you need exactly? Jan 25, 2023

The title reads "From Studio to Indesign" (which rather makes no sense) while in the body of the post you are asking about importing a "file from MS Word to Adobe Indesign indd".

Jorge Payan
Stepan Konev
 
Heinrich Pesch
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Sorry Jan 25, 2023

Sorry. The translation was done in Sdl Studio and saved as docx.

 
Natalie
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OK, but... Jan 25, 2023

what was the format of the source file you received?

 
Platary (X)
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Direct import Jan 25, 2023

Hello Heinrich,

I just tested it : create a new document in Indesign. This document must correspond to the number and size of the Word's document pages. Then File > Import (select docx in the file list). Done !

A little comment here (in french) : https://design-pao.com/importer-document-word-indesign/

Hope this helps!


 
Joakim Braun
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Cut and paste Jan 25, 2023

You typically cut and paste the text, then format it manually (using style sheets) in Indesign.
If you don't know how to do this, you shouldn't accept the job. Indesign requires a lot of practise.

The Word file and the Indesign file can also be set up so that some styling is round-trip-proof. In that case, the Word file can be "placed" in Indesign (with a lot of caveats).

If the intention is to create multilanguage Indesign files, usually you start by creating the
... See more
You typically cut and paste the text, then format it manually (using style sheets) in Indesign.
If you don't know how to do this, you shouldn't accept the job. Indesign requires a lot of practise.

The Word file and the Indesign file can also be set up so that some styling is round-trip-proof. In that case, the Word file can be "placed" in Indesign (with a lot of caveats).

If the intention is to create multilanguage Indesign files, usually you start by creating the Indesign file in the source language, then export to IDML and work with a CAT tool.
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Jaime Oriard
 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
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Source was pdf Jan 25, 2023

The original was in Indesign .indd and saved as pdf. I also have an export to Word docx.
The translation looks exactly as the original pdf with all images.
The person who created the original tries to import the translation into Indesign. But it is no easy job I here.


 
Joakim Braun
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Wrong workflow Jan 25, 2023

Heinrich Pesch wrote:

The original was in Indesign .indd and saved as pdf. I also have an export to Word docx.
The translation looks exactly as the original pdf with all images.
The person who created the original tries to import the translation into Indesign. But it is no easy job I here.


Your customer has the wrong workflow.

PDF or Word aren't usable interchange formats for Indesign. PDF should never be used for anything but producing a final document for distribution to the end user.

The Indesign person will have to cut-and-paste the content frame by frame and reapply styling manually.
Depending on page count, this doesn't have to be a disaster if the Indesign document is set up professionally. But if it's created by an amateur with lots of ad hoc inline styling and no style sheets, it will take time.

[Bearbeitet am 2023-01-25 18:07 GMT]


Jorge Payan
 
Stepan Konev
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Request for idml Jan 25, 2023

Next time ask your client to convert the indd file into idml that can be translated with Trados.

 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
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I will do that Jan 25, 2023

Stepan Konev wrote:

Next time ask your client to convert the indd file into idml that can be translated with Trados.


In fact I asked the person to send me the original again as idml, because translating this would take not much time.


Stepan Konev
Joakim Braun
 
Samuel Murray
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@Heinrich Jan 25, 2023

Heinrich Pesch wrote:
The original was in Indesign .indd and saved as pdf. I also have an export to Word docx.
The translation looks exactly as the original pdf with all images.
The person who created the original tries to import the translation into Indesign.

It's not your task to put the text back into InDesign. Or, well, it could be your job, if you specifically quoted for it. But you must have InDesign to do that.

There is no way to "import" the text into InDesign -- the person using InDesign has to copy/paste the text into InDesign, then generate a new PDF, and give it to the translator to do a format check (which the translator might want to charge for separately... but that is something that you should have agreed on beforehand).

If the client struggles to copy/paste from Word (e.g. because Word's formatting gets in the way), then I suggest they save the file as plain text / TXT or first copy/paste the text into a plain text file (which they can open in Notepad), and then copy/paste the text from Notepad into InDesign.


 
Joakim Braun
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Better Jan 25, 2023

Samuel Murray wrote:

If the client struggles to copy/paste from Word (e.g. because Word's formatting gets in the way), then I suggest they save the file as plain text / TXT or first copy/paste the text into a plain text file (which they can open in Notepad), and then copy/paste the text from Notepad into InDesign.


Even better, "paste without formatting" in Indesign.


Jorge Payan
 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
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Thanks to all of you Jan 26, 2023

I'm doing this all as pro bono, and the creator of the content will do the work in Indesign. Next time I will know to ask for idml at the start.

 
Matthieu Ledoré
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Get the .idml, then apply perfect matches Jan 26, 2023

Hi Heinrich,

If your client was able to provide the .idml file, maybe you could apply perfect matches to it with the translation work you've already done?
It doesn't always work, but it can save you a lot of time.

Regards,
Matthieu.


 


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