InDesign CS2 Place Problems

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-13 08:35:05

I'm still having a problem placing documents created in Nisus Ex. 2.5 into InDesign. When I place the document, it crashes InDesign!

This has been happening off and on for a few months now. Word versions of the same document place fine.

What's up?

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » 2005-11-13 14:53:25

Is there anything unusual in your document? Tables? Columns? Section breaks? Placed files?

Also, did the document originate in NWE, or another program (e.g. Word)?

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-13 17:39:16

No, the document wasn't created in NW X 2.5. It was an MS Word document that I opened in NW and then saved it as an NW RTF file.

jonlink · Post by **jonlink** » 2005-11-14 22:38:12

this has been a problem for a while now. it is only nwe rtf files that crash indesign. the only (kind of) fix i've discovered is to use apple's textedit to create a template and then use that in nwe. but if you mess with the styles too much in nwe the file will still crash indesign. it's a heartbreaking situation because i would love nothing more than to use nwe, but until this is fixed i just don't feel comfortable ising it.

the moral is that sometimes the prettiest girl will break your heart and also that nwe styles seem to break indesign's heart in a way that no other program i've used does, and i've tried a lot just to be sure.

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-15 19:57:00

This is very discouraging news since InDesign is quickly becoming (if it already isn't) the layout program of choice for professionals. When I get Word documents, I normally convert them to NW and reformat them the way I want. Then I place them in the publications I produce.

My current project is a small book about the history of mining in our region. Am I going to convert it Nisus Writer? Not on your life. Despite the shortcomings of MS Word, it doesn't crash InDesign. But until NW solves this problem, I'll work with Word.

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-16 10:04:25

Here's the strange part: if I open an MS Word document and then save it in NW as a .doc rather than .rtf, it works fine in InDesign!

So there must be some issue with the Nisus RTF works or how InDesign handles RTF files. Hmmmm.

So when NW show RTF (Preferred), we might ask, "Preferred by whom?

Post by **martin** » 2005-11-16 14:38:40

We're still trying to ferret out what InDesign doesn't like about our RTF exactly. But this is likely their bug that we've got to work around somehow.

wolfcreekads wrote:Here's the strange part: if I open an MS Word document and then save it in NW as a .doc rather than .rtf, it works fine in InDesign!

That's very interesting because internally a Nisus file saved as ".doc" is exactly the same as if you saved it as ".rtf" (this is perfectly legal). InDesign must process the documents differently for some reason.

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-16 14:47:24

Gremlins?

MacSailor · Post by **MacSailor** » 2005-11-16 20:36:46

wolfcreekads wrote:Gremlins?

Or hobgoblins?

Post by **martin** » 2005-11-16 21:22:48

MacSailor wrote:
wolfcreekads wrote:Gremlins?
Or hobgoblins?

..or possibly eviiiiiiiiiil leprechauns

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » 2005-11-16 22:53:24

Well, it's certainly not the Lucky Charms leprechaun (he's stuck in cereal box).

Post by **martin** » 2005-11-16 23:53:57

I didn't want to tell anyone, but I accidentally let the little guy escape yesterday morning.

jonlink · Post by **jonlink** » 2005-11-19 19:47:24

i'm glad to hear this is something you folks are working on, thanks a ton, i'm really looking forward to the i can love nwe without wondering if it'll come back to bite me.

i feel pretty strongly that it has something to do with styles, in testing old files that were orginally nisus files i found that the crash inDesign even when saved as file.doc the same is not true when saved as file.txt-- or course that leads to weird characters etc.

it seems to me that the key to your conversion success with .doc format is that it never makes it to rtf. there is something wrong with the rtf. Trying saving the file as a .rtf then a .doc-- i bet you twenty milk duds that inDesign bites the dust.

another thing i should mention... when this whole thing does get figured out it would be nice if there was a way to bacth fix the old files.

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-20 17:51:36

Unfortunately, those of us who write or produce publications can't wait too long for a "fix" of the problem. A year in cyberland is an eternity...and a year's wages.

I need a word processor that is dependable, usable, placeable, and can be read by InDesign, my workhorse software.

wolfcreekads · Post by **wolfcreekads** » 2005-11-22 05:43:08

There doesn't seem to be an issue if I convert the Word documents to Nisus .doc. So for now that's what I'll do. Someone has suggested that it may be the Word file with some "styles" applied that doesn't convert to RTF easily.

I'll pay more attention to the kinds of documents that are causing the problem.