Converting Pagemaker files to InDesign

[Eric_M._Thompson@adobeforums.com]

The company i work for will be switching to InDesign from Pagemaker 7.0 this summer. Does anyone have any experience converting Pagemaker files to ID? Any problems that you faced? I read the feature at the top of the forum about it but any extra information would be helpful. I just want to be prepared as the switch will have to be quick and i am trying to avoid any unexpected problems.
-Eric

[Bob_Levine]

There's no way to avoid some problems. You're talking about something
that can be anything from perfect to so bad you'll have to recreate it.

I'm sorry I can't be more help, but the conversion is designed to assist
you in getting information from PM to ID. It's not intended to be
perfect. Text flow is the major issue I've seen problems with text wraps
and grouped objects not comining in properly.

My advice is to keep PM around for jobs that need only small changes and
only convert documents that will need large changes.

Bob

[Eric_M._Thompson@adobeforums.com]

Thanks a lot for the insight. The problem is that I work at a newspaper. I will be changing the templates and I wonder if it will retain all of our text styles, etc. I really don't have many documents to convert that have a large amount of text or images in them so I hope it will go smoothly.

[Ken_Grace@adobeforums.com]

You could always download the trial version today which will give you 30
days to iron out any conversion issues before you go live.

k

[Lee_Sheffer@adobeforums.com]

I am finally moving from Pagemaker 7.0 to InDesign 2.0. ID opens all PM files but there is always problems with fonts, tracking, etc. Is the PM file that was converted to ID less stable due to the conversion, possible problems with certain tasks or would I just be better off starting over and creating new ID files from scratch. I guess what I am asking is does the conversion work well and can I rely on it to be correct when I get to my service provider. Can I rely on ID to keeps it's integrity from converted files.
Thanks
Lee

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

Lee,

If PM7 and Indy are on the same computer, and you open a PageMaker file in InDesign, AND all the fonts are on your system, THEN the converted Indy file will have the same fonts. No problem.

If the links were correct within the PM7 file, then the links will be correct in the Indy file. No problem.

I recommend opening first within PageMaker, checking fonts and links, and doing a save-as to a new filename. Or also include a PageMaker diagnostic recompose, and then save-as the file.

Text will usually reflow, so you will have to look for reflow problems. But other than that, the conversion is accurate, and the Indy file is much more stable than old PageMaker.

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[Unregistered]

Anyone here can give me sample on how to convert the pagemaker to indesign? Please......