How To Import Text Into InDesign WITHOUT having to Reformat

Learn how to import text into Adobe InDesign in less than 5 minutes with easy to follow step by step instructions.
We'll take a text document from Microsoft Word and import it into Adobe InDesign 2018.
Read the full transcript on the blog at blog.prettyfabu...
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Video designed by Lisa Siefert of Pretty Fabulous Designs
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[@Zorrilla.Living]

OMG THANK YOU! THAT SHIFT CLICK JUST SAVED MY LIFE! LMAO. I knew there had to be a way to add multiple pages without having to add a page for each damn continued piece of content.

[@johires1686]

I have been reading and rereading. Searching and watching for the last week on the easiest way to get my Word Doc uploaded to Indesign. And then I found you. Thank you so much. You are a dream!!!

[@jamesfriday7580]

What a time saver! Finally some one with a mac to explain the proper keystroke. I listened to a university professor and could not get it. You put it very succinctly. Thank you for protecting me against loaded cursor addiction.

[@realtoast7036]

Wow! This is outstanding! Just converted a 110 page docx to iD in seconds. The tip at 4:26, the place + Shft is a lifesaver.

[@roberthunterwine]

I second that! Great tip!!!

[@dreamer-ou7ml]

I'm writing this comment right after I tried the second method and I must say that it works perfectly! I tried it in my Indesign CS6 version. Thank you so much!

[@eseyasabraha7784]

This saved me a lot of time thank you very much Lisa.

[@cbgrubb]

Thank you so much for the clarity and professionalism in your VOICE. So many online tutorial-providers often forget there is a listener and start having conversations with themselves UNDER THEIR BREATH. You are precise, concise AND you know your topic COLD. So so refreshing and welcoming when you are on the fly and need to know or in my case . . . I'm 70 . . . need to REMEMBER how to do something I did maybe three or eight years ago. I go back to Pagemaker. Indeed . . . it's that damned shift key. Thank you so so much. Charlie Grubb

[@SAIFULLAHJAMIL]

Your welcome, Charlie. Glad it helps

[@ultramynd.]

I love this lady. You just saved a life. Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@maryfern929]

This is just what I needed! All my searching found only how to place one page documents. Thanks, Lisa!

[@abdallaaref3718]

you have no idea how helpful this video is. thank you so much, i have to submit work tomorrow and i was very stressed, specially with tables.

[@BlazeGoldburst]

Your tutorial video on importing the Word Doc to Indesign has been very useful to us. Thank you so much.😃

[@MarjolynNoble]

Wonderful, I had to watch 5+ videos before I found yours - I could not work out how to import a large word doc and you explained it beautifully. Thank you

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Marjolyn: Awesome - so glad to hear that! XOXO Lisa

[@Carlos86lewis]

I take my hat off to you. Thank you so much for this video. You just saved me so much time. I was literally just manually selecting add page and drag. Much love.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Carlos: Wow, manually adding pages sounds painful - so glad you found this video! XO Lisa

[@StanWeiner]

You're the best. Helped me a lot. Thank you.

[@jurdzfiled]

What if the Word has images on it, would it be still be there in the indesign?

[@andreabratic7506]

Oh THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I do this proffesionally and have always spent so much time with the formating and mistakes...

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hooray, Andrea: so glad it was helpful. XO Lisa

[@derrionarrington]

Thank you so much! This has to be in the Top 3 of the most useful videos I’ve ever come across.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hooray Derrion: So glad you found it useful! XO Lisa

[@djpenton779]

Very helpful! InDesign beginner here, trying to work with a massive Word doc is input. I subscribed. Thanks!

[@darkreigncometh]

Thank you! I have been looking for a solution to this forever.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi - So glad this video helped you!

[@oleavideo5943]

Super helpful.
Question → Is it possible to easily import text from a Word doc into an existing .indd file that already has images and other elements? Thanks!

[@miguellemillo2543]

Thank you. I've been tasked with reformatting a 50 page e-book that's created in word and I would much rather do it in indesign. This was very helpful.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Miguel: Wonderful - Glad it was helpful! XO Lisa

[@arthursmirnof7563]

Thank you very much! You just saved me a lot of work

[@officerM1911]

lol. So.....like just hold down when you place. AWESOME! this really saved my bacon! AND A LOT OF TIME!

[@karenm2470]

Exactly what I was looking for. ALL OF THIS!!!

[@squareinsquare2078]

Thanks so much! All I needed to do was press shift, you've saved me a ton of time.

[@JanetteHeffernan]

Did your import bring all the formatting across with the styles?

[@luvozwide5704]

Super helpful, you're the best.

[@DrewZilla_Art]

you just made my life a little easier. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

So happy to hear that DrewZilla! XO Lisa

[@ravindracsl]

Very well explained Thanks

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rao_inspires]

Thankyou!!! You legit just saved me hours of work on a short deadline!!!

[@UnboxRacing]

Wonderful, who would think that shift double click could save hours of laborious guesswork about placing word files!! Thank you very much. One other challenge about Word files are images that are inserted into the body text and what happens to them on placing in Indesign. I have a 95 page word doc that I need to get into ID this morning...we shall see. Also on hyperlinks and footnotes..so many headaches.

[@dataclashers]

Very helpful. Thanks a lot

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi DataClashers: Glad it was helpful! XO Lisa

[@messiahadvent]

wow very nice i like it and realy explained.

[@liammetcalfe1]

Does the shift and double click method work for an InDesign document that uses columns? I am working with a thesis that will have each page split into thirds.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Liam: I have no idea but I don’t see why it wouldn’t. XOXO Lisa

[@user-we2ss5ki4g]

Thank you soooo much ❤ for help me to my exam 🥺🙏

[@PastorHooks]

That's awesome. I know I will need this soon so it is good to know. Thanks. And thank you for being brief.

[@Christine-ix6gq]

Life saving lol thank you!!

[@stacy1458]

AMAZINGLY HELPFUL! Thank you Lisa!

[@barryballinger6023]

So helpful. Thank you.

[@juniapenido7673]

Hello, love the video! If my file has footnotes, will Indesign recognize them?

[@maiva8292]

So helpful and straight to the point! Thank you!

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi M M: Thanks so much - glad you liked it! Thanks, Lisa

[@neouia777]

What is the butter import the text from Word or type it directly in indesign 🤔🙄 Thanks ✨

[@dr.niallmacgiollabhui3536]

HI. Really great video. When I try to import, having set up the file, it seems as if only one page is being pulled across instread of the 115 I want to import. I hold the shift bar on my MacBook but the double click doesn't seem to be working for me?

[@00TheRealTC]

You're fabulous! Thank you for this excellent tutorial.

[@JessicaMDesigns]

Thank you! This was super helpful - saved me tons of time

[@oleavideo5943]

Thanks!

[@uVictor]

THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUU

[@edgarohito4662]

Perfect Video! What camera are you using its super HD ?

[@kylejantjiesauthor]

I followed your exact instructions and it worked but at some point in my document, the pages just go blank. But when I delete some of the previous text, it shows that those pages are actually still there, they're just not showing. What do I do?

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Kyle: Sorry to hear that happened - this is definitely something to explore with Adobe support directly. Good luck. XO Lisa

[@tmkm130]

Thank you. I'm just starting to learn this. Very cool. I get scanned documents at work and they look horrible. I like to clean them up so I use the recognize text option in Acrobat DC. A lot of times it copies the font but it's pixilated or skewed somehow I'm wondering if InDesign has a better feature or process to clean it up? Please let me know. Thank you.

[@rayacosta.oficial]

I AM A FAN ALREADY! Thanks!

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Ray: Awesome! Thank you! XO Lisa

[@lon2336]

YOU JUST SAVED MY LIFE! THANK YOU!!!!!!

[@kimberlymcd9780]

I am trying to import text from Word into InDesign this works great. The only problem I have is the Word doc has text in tables and the tables don't seem to match when imported. Any thoughts?

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Kimberly: You cannot import tables from Word to InDesign. Sorry - it's just not possible in an easy way. XO Lisa

[@DustinRanem]

Quick and simple, thank you for the help!

[@manojkn1073]

Madam,
very very thanks..................................
Thanks a lot.......

[@_atulroy_]

when i import large amount text over into Indesign, it also imports the footnotes. And i'm just not able to get rid of the annoying footnotes, since its placed automatically during import all into a textframe, i'm not able to remove them. I can edit them, but not remove. Help!

[@juliamarshall6987]

I have been using InDesign for years and literally did not know I could make it automatically place the exact number of pages. My editors make a lot of text changes and its so much back and forth and I am CONSTANTLY going back and forth linking and relinking and reformatting documents. This is going to shave weeks off my work hours in a year.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Julia: So glad it was helpful! XO Lisa

[@diorbella8565]

Thank you, so much

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Dior: Always welcome! XO Lisa

[@migmaina4728]

Many thanks for this! It has saved me a lot of time! It is however not working on all the word documents I want to transfer to indesign. Only 7 out of 253 pages are created form this particular word file leaving me with the text over set symbol at the end of the 7th page. Any idea on what could be wrong with the word document?

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Mig: Sorry to hear it stalled on you. I usually find this is because some weird or fancy formatting attempts were made to the Word document. I do not have a fix for it. I have tried copying and pasting the entire word document into a plain text editor but then you'll lose all your formatting. I hate to say it but you'll just have to copy and paste in chunks to get it all into InDesign. Or you can contact Adobe support - they might have a fix for you. Good luck! XO Lisa

[@lezexperiencephilippines]

Wow! Thank you for that fast yet precise tutorial. I've been looking for an easy way to import my 100 pages word document and this just answers my question.

[@arshkhan9860]

You are so beautiful and the way you explain is awesome. Love from Pakistan

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Arsh: Aww - thanks. You're so nice - I appreciate your friendly comment. XO Lisa

[@katerinatschertkova4886]

Thank You very much!

[@onepointfivemethane205]

Thank youuu I forgot about the shift thing & I couldn't find it anywhere on google

[@serenarossetto4341]

Thank you very much!

[@bertazak2217]

I have a template that I did this to. The template already has the fill text in it. Is there a quick way to replace this text with the placed document?

[@user-ym3we5zd3l]

Thanks, great video!

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Rukundo: Glad you liked it! XO Lisa

[@presssoa8049]

Thank you verymuch

[@imfinesleepwell]

thank you!

[@ThePattersonFdn]

Love your tutorials...and getting to the point! :)

[@MHarun-kq8oc]

Hi Lisa, I'm GD Harun from Bangladesh. I like your tutorials so much, thank you for your very brilliant & informative tutorial, very glad to you. Please, can you make a tutorial for a 16-page plate setup to plate output for publishing a book in InDesign? Actually, I have a 500 pages book for output. If you have, please, I'm very glade to you if you send me the link.

[@BabyAPoland]

You have saved my job o.o Thank you so much

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Glad I could help!

[@nansymassartdesign1446]

Hi, I need help. I have black boxes appear on top of the imported texts; I don't know why it's like this.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Nansy: Sorry to hear this is happening. That sucks. Did you try reaching out to Adobe Support? XO Lisa

[@AngelTrazo]

this video CHANGED MY LIFE! thank you :)

[@dharmatreasure2919]

how to enable rich text format in indesign

[@adeodatuskakorozya9064]

Think you very much, let me kill this 200 page book now

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Yes - you can do it! XO Lisa

[@IAMSucc3ss]

Very helpful indeed. God bless you

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Federico1685]

Hi. Your tutorial is very useful and clear. Do I have to install any plug-in to transfer avanced logic and math symbols from word to indesign? Thank you.

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Federico: Thanks for watching + commenting. I have no idea about logic + math symbols since I've never used them in either program. Nor do I ever use plugins so I'm not the right person for this question but you can easily just try it out and see if it works or not or contact Adobe Technical support for help. XOXO Lisa

[@Federico1685]

@@PrettyFabulousDesigns Thank you so much.

[@kailashsavlot9897]

thanks senorita,,,, u deserve my like

[@md.nazmulahmedriyadh2055]

Thank You very much. I have been looking for this.

[@ela7464]

Thank you

[@sergiogracia8072]

I love you!!!!!!! You saved me

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Awesome, Sergio - glad to hear it was helpful! XO Lisa

[@stevefury90]

Thank you.

[@christinagouzioti501]

soo helpfullll..thank u

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Christina: So glad you found it helpful! XO Lisa

[@user-ud3bb4qi3i]

Είσαι υπέροχη!!!

[@nelsonvallarta9611]

what about microft word file with images...

[@johnnabers8280]

For real tho

[@antoniodalfonso]

thank you so much

[@alaminraj8727]

thank you so much, it is so helpful for me.

[@IngridHenderson-nx9mv]

idk if youre going to know the answer to this, but its putting a new page break at every line break and I dont know how to fix it!

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Ingrid: Wow - that sounds annoying. I'd love to help you but I've never had that happen to me and can't duplicate the problem you're getting. Have you tried to contact Adobe directly - their Tech Support is super friendly 1 [phone] XO Lisa

[@sergiomulestagno5831]

Is Import from Microsoft Publisher possible?

[@danknado97]

thank u so much

[@hadirahimzade9682]

Thank you very much, it was very useful

[@JahnnCooper]

Thanks very kind and clear!

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Jahnn: Glad you liked it! XO Lisa

[@fumikokoyaa3315]

Can I ask, why whenever I import the file nothing appears in InDesign? I did everything you did, but no text appears.

[@looseitall4075]

thanks thanks thanks thanks!

[@portuler]

This was very helpful. Thanks for sharing

[@sierasyra8539]

OMAIGADD THANKYOU THIS SAVE ME ALOTTTT!!!

[@vivible5386]

Thank yoy very much.
I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU: HOW I CAN KEEP SUPERSCRIPT STYLE, ITALICS STYLE, BOLD STYLE FROM WORD TO INDESIGN.
Thank yoy very much and sorry for my english

[@jyothish.m.u]

Finally 👍 I got it ❤️

[@junalbarboza807]

Does this import footnotes too?

[@PrettyFabulousDesigns]

Hi Junal: Great question - I don't know. I doubt it but there might be a setting that does that. Did you check out Eon's channel - he has way more text formatting videos on his. XO Lisa

[@KimyPops95]

Super helpful, thank you! :)