Adobe InDesign User Manual
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and spreadsheet files are embedded (not linked).
2. Do one of the following:
To create a new frame for the placed text, make sure that no insertion point is present and that no text or frames are selected.
To add text to a frame, use the Type tool
to select text or place the insertion point.
To replace the contents of an existing frame, use a selection tool to select the frame. If the frame is threaded, a loaded text cursor
appears.
If you accidentally replace a text file or graphic using this method, choose Edit > Undo Replace, and then click or drag to create a
text frame.
3. Choose File > Place.
4. Select Replace Selected Item if you want the imported file to replace the contents of a selected frame, to replace selected text, or to be
added to the text frame at the insertion point. Deselect this option to flow the imported file into a new frame.
5. Select Show Import Options, and then double-click the file you want to import.
6. Set import options, and then click OK.
If you haven’t already designated an existing frame to receive text, the pointer becomes a loaded text icon, ready to flow text wherever you click or
drag.
The placed text frame can be converted into either a plain text frame or a frame grid, depending on the settings in the Story panel. You can
choose Type > Writing Direction > Horizontal or Vertical to determine the frame’s writing direction. When text is placed in a frame grid, the
document defaults set in the Grid tool apply to the frame grid. Apply grid formatting as necessary.
If you receive an alert that the requested filter wasn’t found, you may be trying to place a file from a different word-processing application or from
an earlier version of Microsoft® Word, such as Word 6. Open the file in its original application and save it as RTF, which preserves most
formatting.
If the imported Microsoft Excel document displays red dots in cells, adjust cell size or text attributes so that overset content becomes visible. You
can also place the file as unformatted tabbed text, and then convert the tabbed text to a table.
About import filters
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). Note the following:
InDesign generally imports all formatting information specified in the word-processing application, except information for word-processing
features not available in InDesign.
InDesign can add imported styles to its list of styles for the document. A disk icon
appears next to imported styles. (See Convert Word
styles to InDesign styles.)
The import options appear when you select Show Import Options in the Place dialog box, or when you import an Excel file. If Show Import
Options is deselected, InDesign uses the import options last used for a similar document type. The options you set remain in effect until you
change them.
If InDesign cannot find a filter that recognizes a file by either its file type or file extension, an alert message appears. For best results in
Windows, use the standard extension (such as .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf, .xls, or .xlsx) for the type of file you’re importing. You may need to open
the file in its original application and save it in a different format, such as RTF or text-only.
For more information on import filters, see the Filters ReadMe PDF file at
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