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Excel tables & charts won't place in InDesign

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Norman Pillsbury

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Jan 5, 2003, 4:48:18 PM1/5/03
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I can't drag or Place either charts or tables created in Excel successfully to ID. It doesn't matter if I create a PICT file first or not. I have tried every which way to make this work. They will import, but look lousy on the screen and print just as bad. Dragging from Excel to PageMaker is a breeze and comes through with high quality both on screen and in print.

Do I have to go back to PageMaker to get acceptable results? I just switched to ID !!

The whole point of InDesign is to complete work in other programs and place them SUCCESSFULLY into ID to make your final report. What gives?? Where is the fix?

I'm in OS X.

Norman Pillsbury, Professor
Cal Poly State University
San Luis Obispo

Steve Werner

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Jan 5, 2003, 6:51:49 PM1/5/03
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For an Excel spreadsheet, you should be able to open it (File > Open) directly in InDesign, and it will translate into an InDesign table, retaining the formatting.

For a chart, save it as a PDF file, and it should be able to retain the high-resolution quality of the chart. Then choose File > Place.

Don Picard

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Jan 6, 2003, 9:54:52 AM1/6/03
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What Steve says should work fine. Another option is to save out the Excel file as a PICT or a PDF and open in Illustrator, then after dinking around with it in Illustrator to enhance it, place it in InDesign.

I tend to do that with Excel charts even though InDesign can open them, as I like to take full advantage of the design options in Illustrator in enhancing the chart. But that's just my way of working based on years of familiarity with Illustrator, which makes me very comfortable working there.

Don

Don Frankenfeld

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Jan 8, 2003, 3:07:17 PM1/8/03
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I have the same problem as Professor Pillsbury, with the added wrinkle that I want to maintain dynamic links, so that if I change a chart in Excel, the change is reflected in InDesign. This works fine (making allowance for unpredictable quirks) in Pagemker, but its new, "better" successor seemingly fails the test. Saving the charts to .pdf or moving them to Illustrator might permit acceptable graphic quality, but of course all links are destroyed. So Adobe has given me the privilege of spending money to "upgrade" to a product that is, for my particular needs, so inferior as to be useless.

Ann Shelbourne

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Jan 8, 2003, 5:21:12 PM1/8/03
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You can copy Microsoft charts and paste them into Illustrator (which retains them as fully editable vector objects).

Edit them in Illustrator and then place the Illustrator file in InDesign.

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