Insert Text from a Word Document?

Not many people know this, but you can place an entire Word document as content in InDesign. Many people just copy and paste the content from the Word doc into the InDesign doc, and you can do that, but this tip explains how to place the actual document. Go to File > Place and locate the Word document you want to use. Make sure you check the Import Options checkbox at the bottom of the Place dialog, or this won’t work properly (at least not in a way that gives you any control). Click Open, and you’ll get a dialog called Microsoft Word Import Options ([name of doc]. docx). We’ll focus on the Formatting section in the lower half of the dialog, which offers you two choices for dealing with imported text:

Remove Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables—This will strip all the formatting from your Word document and use whatever default styles you have set in your InDesign document.

Preserve Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables—This will maintain all formatting you have applied in your Word document. Here’s the handy part: it also gives you the option to import your Word styles.

Once you’ve made your selection, click OK and your cursor will be loaded with the Word document. Now click anywhere in your InDesign document to place the text from the Word doc.