Indesign Table/Excel blues

[magicgenie@adobeforums.com]

I have a client for whom I'm preparing a 100 page MICE (meeting and events planners guide) in it is @ 30 pages of hotel info, the client also wants a DPS of a kind of a table, showing all these hotels, how many rooms they have, how many meeting rooms etc lots of info, she's asking my project manager if it's best to supply this in an Excel doc, I said I'm unsure and will get back to him.

Any clues anyone? In the best way to approach this?

Hope to hear from you, thanks for reading
Alex

[Kenneth_Lasley@adobeforums.com]

Excel files can be placed into InDesign just fine.

Ken

[magicgenie@adobeforums.com]

Errrrr, great, thanks for your post Ken, any clues..?
Alex

[Dave_Saunders@adobeforums.com]

Alex,

It is not at all clear what you're asking. Presumably, you know about File/Place, so you're not asking that. I don't know what a "DPS kind of table" means, so I can't help with that.

What exactly are you asking?

Dave

[magicgenie@adobeforums.com]

The frustration in your tone scared me Dave ;-) I have consulted the 'help files' and will inform the client to prepare their excel table and hopefully I'll manage to make it into a handsome looking Indesign table, in due course.

Many thanks for taking the time to post and as Fri/Sat is our weekend over here in the United Arab Emirates i'm off shortly, so I shall wish you a good weekend.

Will post again if I get stuck.

:-)

regards
Alex

[Michael_Trout@adobeforums.com]

I work with tables of data from Excel all the time. I find the 'place' feature to be of less value that it could be due to the fact that there is not currently a built in method to apply styles to the tables. Although there is a third party solution, I do not have it.

My workflow involves setting up the table in InDesign as I desire it to appear. Setting fonts, colors, rules and fills.

Next I open the Excel file in Excel and copy it to the clipboard.

Finally, I use Dave's wonderful PopTabFromClip script to POPulate the TABle FROM the CLIPboard.

I have used this successfully on a nasty table that included over 8000 line items (on 80 pages), so I do not doubt that it will work on a mere 30 pages.

^_^

YMMV

-mt

[Bob Levine]

I go about that the opposite way. I do all the formatting in Excel and
then just place in ID.

Bob

[Michael_Trout@adobeforums.com]

I receive dozens of Excel files a month. All to be placed in a single template to produce rate cards for an assortment of different products. Rather than take the unformatted Excel files, format them over and over again, and then place them in InDesign, I prefer to have the design establised in the InDesign file. By using the populate table script, the data flowing into the table acquires the properties already established in the template.

So, I design once for 60 forms instead of constantly redesigning the forms across the span of a few months. I don't worry about accidently messing up the source files or failing to implement a style somewhere. If there is an error, I can point it out and have it corrected. The revision is a simple copy + script away.

Again, Your mileage may vary. It all depends upon your needs. If you are receiving excel files that radically change in number of columns and /or rows each time, then it can makes sense to mess with formatting in Microsoft Excel if you are so inclined.

-mt

[Zaid Al-Hilali]

Alex, you can certainly use InDesign for simple or complex table formatting whether you've imported the table from Excel or simply initiated it in InDesign itself.

I also work in Dubai and contribute to this great forum when time permits.