How to Insert Word Documents in InDesign

You can preserve a document's format when it is inserted in InDesign.

A Word document can be customized when it is inserted into InDesign. InDesign allows you to preserve the styles and formatting (except bullets and numbered list styles) that were used in the original Word document with the Show Import option. According to Adobe, "InDesign imports most character and paragraph formatting attributes from text files but ignores most page-layout information, such as margin and column settings (which you can set in InDesign)."

Instructions

Inserting Single Word Document

1. Start InDesign and open the file where Word will be inserted.

2. Select the "Type" tool from the toolbox. Then click "File" and "Place" from the toolbar or press "Ctrl+D" (Windows) or "Cmd+D" (Mac). The "Place" dialog box appears.

3. Deselect "Show Import Options" to insert text without formatting or select "Show Import Option" to insert text with formatting.

4. Navigate to the Word file you want to insert and double-click it.

5. Position your cursor where you want the Word document to appear, then click the area.

6. Use your mouse to expand the text box containing the Word document to make its contents visible.

Inserting Multiple Word Documents

1. Open a new or existing file in InDesign. Then select the "Type" tool from the toolbox.

2. Click the area where you want your document to appear and draw a text frame there. Repeat this step to add additional text frames to the page.

3. Select "File" and "Place" from the toolbar.

4. Select or deselect "Show Import Options." Then select the Word documents you want to add. To select multiple documents, hold down the "Ctrl" key as the files are inserted. Click "Open."

5. Click the first text frame where you want the first Word document to go. The Word document will be added there.

6. Click the next text frame where the next Word file should go, repeating this step until all the documents you want to insert are added.

References

• Adobe: Import Text in InDesign