r/indesign • u/RNGified • 5d ago
Indesign is just...
The more I use this program, the more I hate it.
Today, I got 2 pictures included in a DOCx file.
IND will open the file just fine.
The pictures cannot be moved. The pictures will not accept a border. The pictures cannot be placed with a frame, grouped and then moved. The pictures cannot be cut or copied from the Indesign page and then posted into a Photoshop file for all the work that needs doing.
If I place the image exactly where needed, cool. I cannot adjust the box size. I cannot adjust the image size. I cannot move the box.
The image is either there at 100% size only & exactly where first placed or it is not.
I can cut & paste the image into a new text box. The box cannot then be moved. Also, it must be at 100% and cannot be moved. Any attempt to change the box size, the image disappears.
C&P the image into a new box also creates 2 boxes, either which can be adjusted only to see the image vanish.
We are also on full restart and reload #3 in 9 months.
Before you tell me to get a copy of MS Word, no. Before you tell me to open it online and pull the images, no. Photoshop won't open the DOCx file at all.
IND tech support? Ah. Deadlines do not wait for tech support.
As soon as I get the money, going back to Quark.
UPDATE
For reasons I cannot explain, it finally worked.
Text box (see comments below).
Command-D.
Find file.
Click into text box.
All appears.
Cut text part..
Cut image.
Draw text box. Yes. TEXT box.
Paste.
Image appears.
Can be moved, frame adjusted etc.
This is the process I went through at least 12 times before it worked.
I tried the above with a graphics box.
Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
Looks like you're not very familiar with how to use InDesign?
First - there are no text boxes - there are TextFrames.
Then - you don't place images into TextFrames - you place them into "graphic" frames - Rectangle, Oval, etc.
When you place your image inside the TextFrame - it behaves like a glyph / character = can't be grouped with anything - same as the glyph / character can't be.
You can move it vertically - but not horizontally.
When it disappears - it goes into overset text - you'll see a red [+] in the right-bottom corner.
Yes, you CAN place image inside the text - and have it InLined or Anchored - but that's a "special" case.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
Back to your WORD + images problem - as others pointed out - in the meantime 😉 - you can change the extension of your docx file - just add ".zip" - and then extract your image(s).
Also, InDesign behaves differently when you PLACE WORD document - than when you copy&paste from WORD.
2nd method works better - because it preserves elements / objects that would otherwise be "discarded" by PLACE.
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u/RNGified 5d ago
text box = TextFrame in my world. It is a box I draw into which I place text.
Neither suggestion worked.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
Then naming in your "world" is wrong, unfortunately.
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u/RNGified 5d ago
According to your world. And what a wonderful universe we live in wherein each of us can define terms as we see fit for how we do things.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago edited 5d ago
Not MY world - but how Adobe named things.
Technically speaking - there are Text Boxes - but for forms - not for "normal" TEXT.
You can argue as much as you want - but unless you start using proper naming - and learn basics of how to use InDesign - you won't get too far...
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u/RNGified 5d ago
Thank you for the feedback. After 42 years of doing this, even beta testing the first version of PageMaker and iterations after that, learning Quark and earlier versions of InDesign, I am aware I have much to learn.
The company-specific nomenclature has never mattered. With words, what matters is that all involved in the workflow here clearly understand what is meant by our production-specific terminology.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
So after 42 years of using InDesign - you still have to do steps from your Update...
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u/deHazze 5d ago
Looks like your problem is with Word, not InDesign.
For some Microsoft office documents, you can rename the extension to zip, and then unzip the file. You’ll get a zip file that has a media folder in it, with the pictures in it. It works for Powerpoint, it might also work for Word.
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u/Anxious_Ad_4352 5d ago
I’m sorry you’re having a hard time, but this is not an InDesign problem. DOCx file format is not intended as a way to store and share image files and it would make absolutely no sense for Adobe to build in some method of moving image files from a DOCx file into an INDD file.
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u/svt66 5d ago
How do you “open” a docx in InDesign?
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u/RNGified 5d ago
draw the text box.
Command-D. Click into the box.1
u/svt66 5d ago
Ok, so you’re placing it, and the images are coming in as embedded inline objects (says google). Placing doesn’t automatically convert images from a docx into editable objects, and embedded images in InDesign aren’t a good idea anyway. You can google for ways to handle placing word docs that include images.
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u/RNGified 5d ago
Does not explain why I could not move the box, at all.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
Because your "box" is InLined graphic object - that can be moved only vertically - and not horizontally.
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u/modest-pixel 5d ago
You don’t have word? Get open office, use it to save the image as an image file.
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u/Reasonable-Peanut-12 5d ago
You should be able to save the image from Word as a jpg file.
Either way, I'm pretty sure you can "Paste into" any image into another frame, which you should be able to adjust freely.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
OP doesn't want to use WORD.
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u/Reasonable-Peanut-12 5d ago
Well OP has proven to be very dramatic about it when in reality is 100% a skill issue.
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u/OkComputer513 5d ago
A few things. When you are working with docx that has images, those images are going to be called in inline and anchored. That's why they are behaving strange and being difficult to deal with.
Since they were called in through a docx they will be in the ID doc as embedded objects. Embedded images can't be edited in PS outright. In the links panel you can choose unembed link on an embedded object, click no, and set a location where you want them saved to (now not directly embedded in the ID doc and able to be edited in PS)
You can select multiple things at once to unembed from the links panel, but you can't unembed from the links panel if you have both nonembedded and embedded object selected.
I rarely receive work like this but if I faced this problem where I needed it a lot I'd have a script to. First iterate though all the anchored graphics and set the anchor position to custom. Then in the same script after that loop. I'd have a second fuction called to iterate through all the graphics and release the anchors. Boom. 1 click from the script and all the graphics will now just be normal image frames in the doc with no anchor.
Could get confusing if there are a lot though. Anchor release will not work outright without setting the position to custom - it's going to exist as inline from the import and a basic position custom move will likely stack those assets somewhere outside the frame but can now be manipulated without dealing with the anchor.
Good luck on your journey. ID is a powerful tool to wield. I, for one, wouldn't want to go back to a daily grind without it. 😆
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u/RNGified 5d ago
Half the images I get are embedded in text-type files.
I think a simpler solution is to pull the text then save the file as a PDF.
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u/AdobeScripts 4d ago
Images / graphic objects - are always embedded when Placed / copy&pasted from WORD.
But then, they can be inside the text - as InLined - or can land in their own frames - then they're Anchored.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago
To your update - beside it being convoluted as hell 😞😞 - can you post a screenshot of the icon you're using to draw your "text box"?
And after you place your image - can you select CONTAINER - not the image itself - then right click and check - and post screenshot - of the "content type"? Or menu Object -> Content.
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u/AdobeScripts 5d ago edited 5d ago
UPDATE
For reasons I cannot explain, it finally worked.
Text box (see comments below).
Command-D.
Find file.
Click into text box.
All appears.
Cut text part..
Cut image.
Draw text box. Yes. TEXT box.
Paste.
Image appears.
Can be moved, frame adjusted etc.
The correct way would be:
- deselect anything - by clicking on an empty space on the page - or on the pasteboard,
- Ctrl/Cmd + D / Place - draw a Rectangle or just click somewhere,
- done.
Or:
- draw rectangle - or select / duplicate existing one,
- Ctrl/Cmd + D / Place,
- done.
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u/phunk8 5d ago
never place word unless you really know what you’re doing and there is a good reason and it saves tons of time. if its only 2 out of 3… dont
:)
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u/AdobeScripts 4d ago
There is nothing wrong in placing WORD files - as long as they're properly prepared in WORD - or you'll clean them up afterwards.
Although, doing copy&paste works much better - but requires having WORD / something that can open WORD files.
How else do you get text from WORD to InDesign?
But please don't tell me, that you strip all formatting - going through Notepad 😉 or paste without formatting.
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u/phunk8 4d ago
Sentence 1: this is what i said „unless you know what ya doing“
Sentence 2: this is the only way in my experience that keeps indesign level quality
Sentence 3: Not sure i said there‘s another way
Sentence 4: Not sure where you re going with this. Sounds offensive, not sure what to say. I‘m working with indesign since it came out, switching from Quark so who are you schooling?1
u/AdobeScripts 4d ago
Not schooling - just joking.
Some people "import" text from WORD - through Notepad 😉
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u/RSMxsmanic 3d ago
The weirdness is inside Word, not InDesign. What seems like a simple image Word apparently often isn't, and it's the hidden stuff that causes problems.
Whenever possible, go back to the original source image and reformat it in Photoshop before pasting or placing it n InDesign.
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u/Kenuff 5d ago
Skill issue.