Problem Editing Some Pagemaker Files with InDesign CS, w/Pagemaker

[jgbutler@adobeforums.com]

I've found that most of my old Pagemaker 7.0 files can be easily converted/opened with InDesign CS 3.0.1 (Pagemaker edition) for Windows XP.

But there are a couple of files that will open, but then cannot be edited. I can add new text/images to them, but the text/images created by Pagemaker cannot be edited or deleted or even selected.

The only clues I've got are these error messages and warnings while it opens:

"This document includes one more more broken links to external image files...."

"Tracking values were modified."
"No fill patterns are supported at this time."
"Some of the images in the document were not placed as no filter is found for them."
"The document uses the following fonts which are not currently available.
Tms Rmn"

I tried using Save As in Pagemaker to down-convert the Pagemaker 7.0 files to 6.5, but that did not help.

Any insights?

--Jeremy

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

But there are a couple of files that will open, but then cannot be edited.




Can you describe more in detail what you mean by that? Could it be that the PageMaker elements are on a master page, and you need to Command+Shift click them to override the master objects?

[jgbutler@adobeforums.com]

You guessed correctly! Thanks!

I am but an InDesign noob and didn't know to check for this.

But, still, it is a bit strange. Most of the Pagemaker files I convert do not have this problem, but I didn't knowingly do anything different with the ones that do and the ones that don't. And when I look at the Pages palette, the two types of files look the same.

What determines if the Pagemaker elements will be anchored to a master page? And is there some way to know that they're anchored?

Oh, and I also found the following tip, which allows me to "free" all those master-page elements. I might have found this earlier, but InDesign's help system is screwed up and I have to find the HTML files on my disk and open it manually.

-- InDesign Help --

To override all master page items:

Target a spread, and then choose Override All Master Page Items in the Pages palette menu. You can now select and modify any and all master page items as you wish.