Linking to Excel SpreadsheetsĪs I mentioned earlier, WordsFlow also works with Excel spreadsheets. However, if you just want a bunch of writers and editors to be able to write and edit documents for your InDesign layout up to the last minute, WordsFlow can be a huge help. But InCopy offers many features that you’re not going to get when using Word as your word processor. What About InCopy?ĭoes this mean you can use Word instead of InCopy? Well, maybe, at least for some people. The result is that you get the best of both worlds and a super-charged workflow.
It takes changes you’ve made in Word, changes you’ve made in InDesign, and “diffs” them to figure out what you’ve done. It works just like modified graphics: When you click the badge (or double-click the Links panel icon), InDesign updates the link.Ĭhris at Em Software told me how it merges the two files together, but it still seems like magic to me. (In CS6 and later the modified link also shows up as an little “badge” on the text frame, too.) Whenever the Word file is updated (changed and saved) it will appear as modified in the Links panel. Now you can edit the file in InDesign, and you (or someone else) can edit it in Word.
But you’ll notice that it shows up in the Links panel:
It could not be simpler to use WordsFlow: You just place a file, same as you always have. Phase two is WordsFlow - the same concept applied to Microsoft Word documents (or txt files, rtf files, or even Excel spreadsheets). However, it only worked with Google Docs? until now. Well, the good folks at Em Software (makers of InData and other great tools) came up with a solution a year or two ago that solved this problem by letting you link to Google Docs files - you can edit in both places (Google Docs and InDesign) and it intelligently merges your changes together. Well, technically you can, but if you do then all those edits are thrown away next time you update the link. (The key is the “Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet” checkbox in the File Handling pane of the Preferences dialog box.) But you probably also know that this feature sounds far better than it really is - because you cannot make edits in InDesign after you place the file. In short, I’m playing with WordsFlow, a plug-in from Em Software that fundamentally changes the way you’ll work with Word documents.īackground: You may know that you can place Word files and link to them so that when the Word file changes, you can update it in InDesign. I’m trying hard not to type phrases like “Most useful plug-in ever,” but I have to tell you: I’m sitting here with my mouth agape, heart beating faster, and thinking “This is what I’ve wanted for 20 years.”
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