Moving MS Word 2002 e-book to InDesign CS

[Michael_W._Schaefer@adobeforums.com]

I am almost finished writing a how-to e-book in MS Word 2002 and am considering buying InDesign CS. Can I open/change my Word files to InDesign? I understand that it is a much better program than Word with many options for e-books. Can anyone give me some advice in this area?

Thank you
Michael

[xDsrtRat]

<Michael_W._Schaefer@adobeforums.com> wrote in message
news:3bb562b7.-1@webx.la2eafNXanI...

> I am almost finished writing a how-to e-book in MS Word 2002 and am

considering buying InDesign CS. Can I open/change my Word files to InDesign?
I understand that it is a much better program than Word with many options
for e-books. Can anyone give me some advice in this area?

>
> Thank you
> Michael

I think you'll find the consensus is ID CS is a totally different tool than
Word. I use Word for text entry, save the text, then place it (think import
but it is slightly different) in ID. When I say text entry, I don't do any
formatting, other than paragraph breaks, in Word. Once in ID, I then work on
the actual layout. I suggest getting the Classroom in a Book to get a better
idea of what you're dealing with.

[Jens Schulze]

You can open the Word file, at least as Word 2000 file, in InDesign, but
this is a one-way ticket, backsaving isn't possible. But don't expect to
have the same layout, the import filter is only to import the text and most
formatings, not to convert the word document itself.

Jens

[Michael_W._Schaefer@adobeforums.com]

Thank you Jens,
My question really did have more to do with converting the Word files. I did imagine there would be work to do after importing the files. I wanted to make sure I could import them. Secondly, will the graphics (photos) be recognized? This is a step by step photo illustrated how-to e-book.

Don't want to take up all your time, but this is a pretty significant purchase for me.

Thanks again.
Michael

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

Secondly, will the graphics (photos) be recognized?




Yes, but I think InDesign converts those automatically to TIF. which is actually not a bad thing.

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

Michael,

I'm looking for an example word doc just like you describe. Would you email a copy of the file to me? Click on my name above to see my email address.

While InDesign has the ability to do much hyperlinking, bookmarking, etc., when you use the Place command to import the word doc, it is looking to bring in the text only. It will not convert your highly structured word doc into a similarly complete InDesign document. Remember, InDesign is made to be a prepress page layout software, and that is the workflow it is coming from.

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

To try to be clearer than my previous post, the graphics that come in inline from the word doc might not be prepared correctly for their use in a prepress workflow, nor will the position of layout be the same. It needs alot of massaging thereafter in InDesign.

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

Remember that everything will reflow. InDesign has a totally different composition engine.

It's probably advisable to place the graphics again rather than relying on what Word does with them.

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

I have had word doc graphics place into InDesign, and the embedded tifs wouldn't open for editing in Photoshop. Therefore, I often end up saying that InDesign doesn't bring in the graphics. What I mean by that is you need to make the graphics as proper separate files and place them anew in the InDesign document. A great workaround for the odd graphics in a word doc is to make a PDF out of Word, and operate on that in Photoshop and/or Illustrator.

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

It's probably advisable to place the graphics again rather than relying
on what Word does with them.




8 out of 10 times the graphics are not available because of the way Word handles this.

A great workaround for the odd graphics in a word doc is to make a PDF
out of Word, and operate on that in Photoshop and/or Illustrator.




A bit cumbersome but I agree.

Our companies corporate office in Germany has a new person working on manuals in that division. He is doing this in MS Word and sent over a sample to me of how good it is to try to convince me to switch over to Word.

HAH!