Equations from Word's "Equation Tool" in InDesign

[Michel Raj]

Is there a way to recover equations made with Word’s equation tool in InDesign ?
I’m not talking of the one which is compatible with MathType, but a “new” one which is an inline one.

TIA
Michel Raj

[Curtis Philips]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'recover'. Do you mean import a Word file into InDesign and have the equations show up? 

If so, the new Word equations, while beautiful in Word, don't import into InDesign. The following worked for me and produced excellent quality, better than other things I tried with screen captures or MathType:

Copy each equation to a separate, blank Word file. From Word choose File/Print, choose the Adobe PDF Printer to print the equation document to a pdf file (use the Print dialog, do not Save As PDF). Then open the pdf in Illustrator and save it as .eps. (You might want to convert the fonts (Cambria/Math probably) to outlines for extra peace of mind.) Place the .eps as a graphic in InDesign. You'll need to do this with each equation. 

If you have a lot of equations you can save a little time by copying all the equations to a single Word document, make a single pdf, and then in Illustrator separate out the individual equations into separate .eps files.

[Michel Raj]

Thanks Curtis, yes, I meant import them in InDesign.

If they are in MathType, I export them all from Word and replace them by a numbered tag (an option from MathType), and then I import the tagged Word file into InDesign, and then replace all the tags by their equations, so they stay editable with MathType.

Luckily, at the moment I only get a few of these Word Equation tool’s equations, so I redo them in MathType.

I need these to be editable, as there might be some changes after import in InDesign.

Apparently, it’s a tool for Word in Word and forget the rest. No other export options except the way you suggest.

Thanks

Michel

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[Dick Margulis]

On 7/29/2015 2:11 AM, Michel Raj wrote:

Thanks Curtis, yes, I meant import them in InDesign.

If they are in MathType, I export them all from Word and replace them by a numbered tag (an option from MathType), and then I import the tagged Word file into InDesign, and then replace all the tags by their equations, so they stay editable with MathType.

Luckily, at the moment I only get a few of these Word Equation tool’s equations, so I redo them in MathType.

I need these to be editable, as there might be some changes after import in InDesign.

If you and your clients have settled on the appearance of MathType equations as suitable for your purpose, that's fine. In doing some testing a couple of years ago, I found that TeX produced better-looking equations and was as easy or easier to use, once I got the knack. So if you have the option of switching, that's something to consider.

[Curtis Philips]

You're welcome. There is no perfect way to handle the situation. I don't like recreating complex equations when I have them already, but it probably depends on how many you have to deal with. What I do is put all the equations in a single Word file and print that to pdf. But I keep the Word file so I can do my editing there for any that need it. Of course the print to file and convert to eps deal has to be done again. But I actually like how the new equations display in Word, so keeping them in that typeface and layout is not unattractive to me. However, I do hope someone develops a way to bring them directly into InDesign or at least convert them to eps or pdf directly from Word. I seem to have read somewhere (perhaps MathType) that the problem lies in Microsoft not having made public the specs for their new engine, nor has Microsoft built in an export to eps feature like the old equations had.