multi-page import in pagemaker?

[stevehaigh]

hi

i have writtien a book in MS word (windows). i'm trying to convert it to pagemaker for the printer. when i use the place command on the .doc file, pagemaker crashes.

so i saved as rtf and it imports without crashing but only the first page is displayed. there are over 200 pages in the book.

is it possible to import multipage in pagemaker?

thanks, a total newbee

steve

[Broacher]

>> i saved as rtf and it imports without crashing but only the first page is displayed<<

But is there a 'red triangle' on the window shade bottom handle of this text block? If so, you just didn't place it with the Ctrl (or Cmnd for Mac) key down, which invokes the 'Autoflow' function. This will automatically create new pages as it flows type through columns and pages. Ctrl-Shft is 'semi-automatic' mode, which fills the current page, and keeps the 'Text to Insert' icon loaded.

But to fix it from where you are: if you click on the triangle, move to the next page, and Ctrl-click, AutoFlow will resume.

[uncle carbunkle]

ooo! tell me more about that!

i've got a buddy using pagemaker 4.5 trying to import from word, too. how does he place the text with auto flow? there are quite a few tables that need to keep their formatting, too...

[Broacher]

Jess a sec. Gotta set my wayback brain back to PM production (it's been almost a year and a half!).

Okay. PageMaker 4.5? Are you sure? Maybe you meant 6.5? Version 4.5 is like, 10 years old, or something.

Importing word... I'm not sure if support for anything higher than Word2000 is available for PageMaker, not even in PM7. But it's not a major deal-- PM's text cut and paste between itself and Word is surprisingly very good-- both ways. It's essentially the same as an RTF file transfer. There are a couple of nifty options available when placing a Word file directly however-- such as quote mark substitution. But nothing you can't get with a little search and replace script.

Bad news: all tables come in as tab delimited. No grids, or rules, or such. Picture and graphics are ignored. Text formatting is strictly whatever RTF supports. Another good reason for a direct 'Place' of a DOC file is that you can easily strip out all text formatting AND (this is even more critical) stop the MS Word paragraph styles from importing. With the exception of PM7, the infamous MSWord style "Normal" was a real source of prepress pain. I mean, it's easy enough to delete it (but you have to remember to do this through the Type menu-- not the palette! It's quirky) but you have to do that right after importing or risk corrupting your PM file permanently.

Now, I said PM won't accept newer MS Word files, but even the newet versions of MS Word still allows you to save back to much earlier versions that will go in.

If your friend doesn't want to reformat those tables, and a work around that might help is to cut and paste the table from Word directly into Adobe Illustrator (or CorelDraw will work too-- using the Paste Special /as Metafile approach). Then you just make sure that the black is black, etc. and save off as an EPS for placement into PMkr. Not great, but maybe better than redoing them all. And don't even touch Adobe Table-- or whatever it was called, that was supposed to be PM's table editor, utility-- piece of crap. Major postscript bugfest. Ten foot pole.

Hope that helped.

[uncle carbunkle]

hmmm...i'm not sure if it did or not, but thanks! :rolleyes:

i can double check the version, but i think we are talking 4.5. i just couldn't talk him through placing the text and have it flow...the document is FULL of tables, but he seems to be able to 'paste special' from word and have them keep their formatting...do you see a problem with this?

so, as it stands right now, he can't place the text from word (i'll have a look later today) and would have to manually copy and paste all of the tables. i guess we were both just looking for a smoother automation of the process.

[stevehaigh]

But is there a 'red triangle' on the window shade bottom handle of this text block? If so, you just didn't place it with the Ctrl (or Cmnd for Mac) key down, which invokes the 'Autoflow' function. This will automatically create new pages as it flows type through columns and pages. Ctrl-Shft is 'semi-automatic' mode, which fills the current page, and keeps the 'Text to Insert' icon loaded.

But to fix it from where you are: if you click on the triangle, move to the next page, and Ctrl-click, AutoFlow will resume.

Dude, you da man! that fixed it, ctrl-click, it imports and flows ok, at first glance anyhow.

thanks a lot.

steve

[Broacher]

>>the document is FULL of tables, but he seems to be able to 'paste special' from word and have them keep their formatting...do you see a problem with this?<<

Well, yeah. First, I hate Word's tables. Most people throw every friggin line/border they can in them and the result is all your reader attention cut into nice, neat, cluttering boxes. But that's the design side. from a production side? Beware of the RGB Black. That's what's behind all the dire warnings in the PMkr manuals that says not to rely on cutting and pasting from the clipboard to assemble your documents. Especially with greys and tints. If it's not going to commercial press-- not such a big deal.

Also, cutting and pasting in PageMaker has the curious habit of permanently inflating the PM file size. PM does this kind of 'internal conversion' from the clipboard when you paste, which really can inflate the PM file size. The weird thing is that even if you permanently delete the pasted objects, and even if you do a 'SaveAs' --which is supposed to clean these things out-- the file size will hardly change. I can tell right away when I'm working on such a file. 'Legacy' files are full of such crap.

[uncle carbunkle]

...*ugh*...

i hate friends sometimes. ;) i almost feel like it'd be easier for me just to do for him.

almost.

thanks, broacher.
:thumbsup:

[Broacher]

If all you're doing is trying to use PageMaker as a bridge between the press and MS Word, there are much better, and easier ways (IMO). Just ask.

[uncle carbunkle]

i have no idea.

he's sending it to a printer (don't know who) and it's currently in word. he needs to stick a load of graphics into the doc and thought that pagemaker would be the better of the two options (pm vs. word).

i'm open to suggestions - without actually doing it for him. i'll be looking at his setup again this afternoon, so hit me with what you got.

[Broacher]

Well, it's all done in Acrobat, with plugins. I use Quite-A-Box-of-Tricks to convert a RGB PDF (made from printing to a PS file from Word and Distilling) to CMYK (QABOT has a nifty all text as black, and all rgb greys as black tints button), and then I would take the results of this, and run Quite-Imposing, which would put it into printer spreads-- if that's what the printer needs. Many prefer to do their own imposition.

If it's just greyscale finals you're after, that's also a no-brainer for QABOT.

[stevehaigh]

If all you're doing is trying to use PageMaker as a bridge between the press and MS Word, there are much better, and easier ways (IMO). Just ask.

ok, that's all i need, to send MS word doc to the printer. they accept .pmd and .pdf files, not .rtf unfortunately.

the file is big, about 250 pages and includes TOC, Index, photos which have text overlayed in MS word and Thai fonts.

any ideas greatly appreciated. The book is called Thai for Builders, by the way. It's about how westerneres can buy land and build a house in Thailand.

thanks, steve

[stevehaigh]

i figued out the best way, IMHO. I can print from word directly to the distiller printer (distiller comes with pagemaker) and that produces a perfect pdf file. the Thai fonts are fine, the graphics and complex layouts, everything is exactly the same as MS word on my screen and requires virtually no effort.

thanks everyone.

steve

[Kool]

That's great Steve but make sure you see a hard copy proof from your printer that has been RIPed through their RIP. Most of the time Word generated PDFs are ok but I have seen them do some really funky stuff when fed through a post script print.

[Broacher]

Steve,

A couple of things to watch for:

-RGB greys and blacks
-missing bullets'
-not all fonts getting embedded

As I said in post #11, getting an RGB PDF from a MSWord>PS>PDF to a CMYK may require an additional plugin.

Good luck.

[D-Zine]

That's great Steve but make sure you see a hard copy proof from your printer that has been RIPed through their RIP. Most of the time Word generated PDFs are ok but I have seen them do some really funky stuff when fed through a post script print.


Definately do as Kool says. What you see on the screen in not always what you get when you print so be sure to get that hardcopy before they run off a ton of prints! VERY important I think! Espiecally is those pages contain some graphics and such.

[Broacher]

If you have Acr6 or 7 pro, be sure to use the sep preview too to determine the validity of your greys and colours.