Hi Karin:
I am sorry, I can't speak for InDesign since I have never had my hands on it
for long. However, based on what Frame Maker from the same company does, I
could make some remarks that might point you in the correct direction.
These techniques work well with Quark Express, which is a similar product.
1) Both Quark and Frame are "tagged text stream" models.
2) Word is an Object Container model. However, the actual content of the
output file from Word depends on how you format your document. If you
format using directly-applied formatting, the Word output file looks and
behaves much like a command-stream model.
The difference is this: In a command stream model, Word notionally sits at
one end of a piece of wire, throwing text at the printer. Every time it
wants the printer to change what it is doing (start a new page, or make the
text bold, or change the font) it embeds a command in the stream of text
flowing down the wire. The printer sits at the other end laying the text
out on the page line by line. Each time it sees a command, it sets the
controls to (say) make the font bold, then continues laying out text until
it sees another command.
In an object model, Word creates a container named a document, in which
there are lots of other containers named paragraphs. Within each paragraph
is a container named Properties. The properties contain all the formatting
for that paragraph. On Output, Word takes the text, applies the properties,
then sends the formatted paragraph.
An object model converts easily into a tagged text stream model: You simply
take each paragraph and add tags at the beginning naming the collection of
formatting that applies to it. This is treated as a style name (a named
collection of formatting) by the receiving application. So Word takes a
paragraph and adds the label "Heading 3". InDesign picks up the paragraph,
sees that it has a "Heading 3" tag, and applies InDesign's local definition
for Heading 3 to that paragraph. Sorry: this is very condensed: get back to
us if you need more...
3) So Quark and Frame both attempt to import Word text by reading the style
names attached to the text and using those to call in or attach equivalent
tags for the bits of text.
In both Quark and InDesign I would expect a mechanism by which you can map
the Word styles to named internal formats (which may also be called styles).
So the key to a clean and easy result is to ensure that your Word document
is formatted using styles and only styles. If you use directly-applied
formatting in the Word document, the imported result is a mishmash of
relatively random tags. A new tag appears in the text for each variation in
formatting. This rapidly leads to an unwieldy and convoluted result.
Working through RTF is usually best avoided, because RTF does not store the
style names, only the format properties. This means there are no style tags
in the file to be imported, immediately setting Quark or InDesign at a
massive disadvantage.
I hope this helps a little.
This responds to article
from "Dayo said:
I thought maybe Elliot was going to help you out, since he uses InDesign,
but...
1) This group is designed for Macintosh Word, which includes Word X, but not
Word 2000. Can't tell which you are using, so pretty impossible to answer.
2) I suspect that a better way to solve your problem would be to investigate
how InDesign and QuarkXPress import text from Word, so check the manuals for
those programs or ask experts in them.
DM
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John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:
[email protected]