Excel tables in InDesign

I am importing Excel tables into my InDesign document but the format of the dates switches from UK to American ie: 28/03/08 becomes 03/28/08. Anybody know how to get round this?

Are the dates switching during the process of import? I just ran a test and that does not happen for me. Or are the dates in the Excel file set for English United States, and you would like them to be formatted English United Kingdom? If this is the case, to change format in Excel, select the cells, Format menu > Cells > Numbers > Dates > Locales.

Similar Messages

Place the links(Pictures and Excel table) to Indesign

Dear All,
We need place some Microsoft Word files into Indesign. and in the word files, contain some link for pictures, Microsoft excel tables. and we need use the C++ to build a InDesign add-in to do the following things( Indesign CS5, Windows 7, VS2008):
Place the word files into InDesign
Find and automatically insert the pictures link files into Indesign
Find and automatically insert the Microsoft Excel table into Indesign.
My Questions are:
Does Indesign CS5 SDK provide those APIs?
Can we build a standalone application to do those jobs?
if C++ can't do this, what kinds of Development tools can do those jobs.
Great thanks for any inputs.
My Best Regards,
Jerome

Hi Pudgesan,
You can paste data from an Excel spreadsheet into an InDesign or document. The Clipboard Handling preference settings determine how text pasted from another application is formatted.
If Text Only is selected, the information appears as unformatted tabbed text, which you can then convert to a table.
If All Information is selected, the pasted text appears in a formatted table.
If you want more control over formatting the imported table, or if you want to maintain spreadsheet formatting, use the Place command to import the table. If you want to maintain a link to the spreadsheet, select the Create Links When Placing Text And Spreadsheet Files option in File Handling preference settings.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Sumit Singh

Adding rows to linked Excel tables in InDesign

Hi there, I have figured out how to link Excel documents to tables in InDesign, but is there a way to add additional rows to the tables in InDesign? If I do that, whenever the Excel link is updated, it deletes the new rows I've added.
We have data that goes in the cells below the linked table and it needs to be in the table so that they'll resize automatically when longer or shorter data is pulled in (vs. just being a totally separate text box/table outside of the linked one).
Help!

Hi, yes, I did add blank rows but the difficulty is that for each instance (20+) the cells below vary, and are also "tagged" with variable data tags (so it brings in outside data via an xml feed) so that's only done in InDesign and not in excel... Therein lies my dilemma. Ideally if I could be "free" about what text, cells, etc. I can put in below the linked cells, that'd be lovely.

How can I change the import options for an Excel table in InDesign CS5.5?

Hi,
I have a problem with an InDesign script that works this way in ID CS4 and ID CS5, but stops working in ID CS5.5.
What the script should do, is to change the import preferences for a table saved in an Excel file so that I can place an unformatted table into a new textFrame in my InDesign document. The Excel document is an .xlsx-File.
function setExcelImportPrefs() {
with (app.excelImportPreferences) {
app.excelImportPreferences.tableFormatting = TableFormattingOptions.excelUnformattedTable;
What the script does (or at least seems to do) is: nothing. The table that is placed into the textFrame by the script is always formatted, as this seems to be the standard preference of InDesign CS5.5 for importing tables out of excel files.
Does anybody have a hint for me how to make the script work in ID CS5.5?

Okay, now it is working. I had to save the XLSX-file into the older XLS format, but that seems to work quite well.
But I won't ever understand why InDesign loses its backward compatibility from one version to the other.
Thank you, -hans-.

Workflow for exporting xml from Excel and importing into table in InDesign

Hello,
I have worked out how to get data from a .xlsx into a table in InDesign. However, the workflow is still a little clunky and I am looking for way to automate the process further. My current workflow is as follows (files can be download here: http://visual360.co.uk/xml.zip)
xml is exported from .xlsx by mapping the schema (see what_I_get.xml)
assign tags to table and individual cells in InDesign
This is the clunky bit: edit the what_I_get.xml to:
remove the indentation (this seems necessary as otherwise when I get to stage 4, all the imported text is also indented)
add tag for table in InDesign (p10_table)
add tags for individual cells (p10_c11 etc.)
import the produced what_I_want.xml in the structure panel of InDesign.
Can anyone point me in the direction of how to automate step 3 above?
Thanks in advance,
Nick

Hi Mike,
Thanks very much for the reply. I am not at all familiar with XSL/XSLT. I have given it a quick google and it seems like it could be quite a steep learning curve to master. Maybe if I explain the whole context here, it may allow you to point me in the direction of a tutorial that provides a step by step approach to achieve my final goal. Alternatively, you may be able to suggest a whole new workflow.
I am in the process of updating this document: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/insessional/assets/documents/IS_Brochure_2014-15.pdf
The tables on pages 10-21 contain lots and lots of repeated information. We want the layout to in this format so that each group of students has all the information relevant to them on a single double spread. However, the challenge of using this approach is that it is very high maintenance to ensure the duplicated information is kept in sync - even using a copy / paste approach.
I was hoping to overcome this by using a single source of data (eg. a spreadsheet) which would then feed into the InDesign. This workflow seems to be overcomplicated by the apparent need to use xml as the "middle-man".
Ideally, I would like to press the export button in Excel and get this information into the the correct cells in the tables on pages 10-21 without a significant amount of manual labour - after all, my reasons for investigating an automated approach in the first place was to avoid the manual entering of data ie. the scope for error...
An alternative approach maybe to skip Excel altogether and just use .xml. However, I am not sure that this is possible as Indesign only seems to allow you to import each element once. Maybe you could correct me here...
I am happy to invest a certain amount of time in developing this approach as once it is in place, it will save a huge of proof-reading time year after year, especially as inconsistencies still persist despite our best efforts to weed them out.
If you could let me know your thoughts on this and maybe identify a tutorial that would help me, I would be extremely grateful.
Thanks again!
Nick

[CS3]How to export a table in InDesign to an excel file?

Hi,
Can any one tell me how to script the process of exporting a table to excel file in InDesign CS3 using javascript?
Thanks in advance.
myRiaz

Sorry, no javaScript, but here are some lines from a localization tool that I made in VB. I simply loop through the Rows and Columns and use the Excel DOM to fill the Excel-cells.
Of course you can read amended/localized Excel files back into inDesign the same way, provided that the tables match (nr of rows and columns).
Afterwards you could loop through the characters of each cell to apply the formatting that you want to keep in Excel, such as SuperScripts.
Hope it helps you.
Set myExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
myExcel.Visible = True
Set myTableBook = myExcel.Workbooks.Add
Set myTableSheet = myTableBook.Worksheets.Item(1)
myTableSheet.Columns.ColumnWidth = 35
myTableSheet.Cells.VerticalAlignment = xlVAlignTop
myTableSheet.Cells.WrapText = True
For R = 1 To myTable.Rows.Count
    Set myTableRow = myTable.Rows.Item(R)
    For C = 1 To myTableRow.Cells.Count
        Set myTableCell = myTableRow.Cells.Item(C)
        If Len(myTableCell.Contents) = 0 Then
            myTableSheet.Cells(R, C) = ""
        Else
            myTableSheet.Cells(R, C) = myTableCell.Contents
            myTableSheet.Cells(R, C).Value = Replace(myTableSheet.Cells(R, C).Value, "1397058884", "—")
            myTableSheet.Cells(R, C).Value = Replace(myTableSheet.Cells(R, C).Value, Chr(13), Chr(10))
        End If
    Next C
Next R
good luck
TonyT

Excel tables... columns and row formatting after I update the indesign page

When my excel table gets updated in indesign I lose formatting (hight/wide) for the columns&rows. There are 26 columns and each one is a difference size. Do I have to formatting (hight&wide) each column and row every time the excel table is updated?

We have many publications with statistical tables, which are done in excel. We want to try to do some publications with only tables and do it in-house. The problem is when we place the table in indesign and finish formatting the table. We will get a updated table that needs to be updated in indesign. But when we do we update we lose all of the indesign formatting. Fixing the fonts, type size, etc is easy but how do we get back the all column widths.

Excel file into InDesign document

I am planning on making our price list in InDesign so I easily can make it "nicer" than in Excel.
Today we have it all in an Excel file but how do I go about putting this info in InDesign? I want the Excel file to be the "origin", if I need to change the prices etc, I want to make them in the Excel file and then relink it to InDesign - if that's possible, that is...
I want it in A5 format, should the Excel file also be made in A5 then?
Today the price list is in one Excel Book and then separated into different pages (if that is the correct word for it, I have Excel in Swedish!). Is that OK or should I just make one long list with all the products.
I tried making an InDesign doc in size A5 and then an Excel file in the size of A5. But when importing the Excel file into InDesign it looked really weird! Numbers came as red dots and all the info didn't fit.
What did I do wrong!?
I'd appreciate all the help I could get! Maybe you know how to do this or where I can read more about it. I'm not that good at InDesign, still consider myself as a beginner...
Thanks!

Emma,
Have you gotten any further with your question? I am in the process of updating our pricing information and I am laying our pricers out in InDesign so that I can make them look "nicer" also. I have been doing research on linking Excel files to InDesign and it has come in very handy. There are some issues I have run into, however, which were mentioned in some of the other responses you have gotten.
First of all, your Excel info isn't coming in correctly because of formatting issues. When you place and link an Excel file, you can indicate what sheet you want to place and even a named range or cell range of that sheet. You can also indicate in that options window whether you want it to be placed as an unformatted table, formatted table or unformatted tabbed text. You will want to choose formatted or unformatted table depending on how you want your InDesign file to look. You can do all of the formatting for your table in Excel and place it as a formatted table, which works o.k., but you will have to deal with a couple of adjustments after you place the file. Your text probably won't show up because of the default settings for the indents of the cells in a table in InDesign. All you have to do for that is double click in your text box and select the whole table. Then you can right click or go to the Table menu and choose Cell Options. Set the Top and Bottom Cell Insets to 0, I usually set my vertical justification to center while I am at it. You could also adjust the row heights to make the text fit.
A wonderful tool to use is a plug in for InDesign by Teacup called TableStyles and CellStyles. I recently discovered this and have started trying to work with it. I came across it by looking around online for information and discussions much like this one. I discovered that we already had this plugin in our program files, but it was not in the correct spot to be able to use the function when I was in InDesign. I had to move the plugins from a Teacup folder within my PlugIns folder. They need to be in the PlugIns folder under Tables.
At any rate, I know I am on the right path, but I am running into a few snags that I haven't been able to find any information on yet. It is best to place the Excel files as unformatted tables when you plan to use the TableStyles and CellStyles to do your formatting, but I have found that it seems as though linking to separate sheets and ranges becomes an issue when you want to update a link. It doesn't keep the sheet and range information you indicated when you first placed the file....? Haven't dug up any information on that yet.
I hope at least some of this is helpful, sorry for rambling on, I just was going through the same thing and wish I had found out about these plugins, etc. sooner. :)

Place EXCEL table

Hi. I use this code to test excel table import in Indesign.
The table is imported correctly but without any preferences.
Any help?
REM LOAD FILE FROM FILE
file_indd= "C:\test.indd"
REM from samples
Function myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage)
idRightHand = &H72677468
idLeftHand = &H6C667468
idSingleSided = &H75736578
myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth
myPageHeight = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight
If myPage.Side = idLeftHand Then
    myX2 = myPage.marginPreferences.Left
    myX1 = myPage.marginPreferences.Right
Else
    myX1 = myPage.marginPreferences.Left
    myX2 = myPage.marginPreferences.Right
End If
myX2 = myPageWidth - myX2
myY1 = myPage.marginPreferences.Top
myY2 = myPageHeight - myPage.marginPreferences.bottom
myGetBounds = Array(myY1, myX1, myY2, myX2)
End Function
REM OPEN Indesign
Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesign.Application.CS3")
myInDesign.ScriptPreferences.UserInteractionLevel = &H654E7672
myInDesign.ScriptPreferences.EnableRedraw = False
REM LOA Ddocument
Set myDocument = myInDesign.Open( file_indd , true)
REM Set myDocument = myInDesign.ActiveDocument
Rem Sets the Excel import filter preferences.
With myInDesign.ExcelImportPreferences
    Rem alignmentStyle property can be:
    idSpreadsheet = &H73707273
    idLeftAlign = &H6C656674
    idRightAlign = &H72676874
    idCenterAlign= &H63656E74
    REM
    AlignmentStyle = idSpreadsheet
    DecimalPlaces = 4
    PreserveGraphics = False
    REM Enter the range you want to import as "start cell:end cell".
    RangeName = "A1:B3"
    SheetIndex = 1
    SheetName = ""
    ShowHiddenCells = False
    REM tableFormatting property can be:
    idExcelFormattedTable = &H786C4654
    idExcelUnformattedTable = &H786C5554
    idExcelUnformattedTabbedText = &H78555454
    REM
    TableFormatting = idExcelFormattedTable
    UseTypographersQuotes = True
    ViewName = ""
End With
REM Create a text frame.
Set myTextFrame = myDocument.Pages.Item(1).TextFrames.Add
myTextFrame.geometricBounds = myGetBounds(myDocument, myDocument.Pages.Item(1))
REM PLACE EXCEL FILE
myTextFrame.Place("C:\test.xls")

Can anybody try the scritp on windows machine (vbscript) to see if is a problem only with my Pc?
Thanks

Script for setting Imported Excel Table Cell Inset

InDesign CS3 Windows XP
I've checked the FAQ and ran all the searches, but I can't find this. My old computer crashed and took with it a script that I had that would set all the cell insets for the cells of the imported Excel tables in one swelled foop. Can someone point me to the source again? My price sheets are nothing but imported Excel tables and it takes forever to set all the insets for each block separately.
Thanks,
JAG

Phah.
app.documents.everyItem().stories.everyItem().tables.everyItem().cells.everyItem().propert ies = [topInset:"1cm"]; //??
This one-liner may need some additional work, but when I am done with it, it'll set the insets for all tables in every open document.
Perhaps 'everyItem' also works on disk files ...
[Edit] Just pulling your leg. I'll take a look on the one-liner when I'm back at work.
I've got a class in a couple of weeks on Javascripting ...
I'm jealous. They give classes about this? BTW, JavaScript is not that hard (e.g., not harder than any other reasonably popular programming language), but its interface to InDesign is something else. In this case, the magic word is 'everyItem'. (You'll learn.)

Creating PDFs from PowerPoint Tables that InDesign Can Handle

Hi - I just posted the question below on the InDesign forum, but I think it may actually be a Microsoft-Adobe-pdf issue. Any help is much appreciated.
Hi All, this is my first post on the Adobe Community. I problem cropped up in the last week and i am going crazy. Please help!! I am running on a MacBook Pro with OSX 10.7.5.
I have been using a workflow to create tables in InDesign for months with no issues:
1. Calculate a complex table in Excel
2. Paste the table into PowerPoint for formatting
3. Copy the table in PowerPoint, then paste it back as a pdf image
4. Option-click on the pdf image on the slide to save it as a pdf file
5. Go to a frame InDesign that already has a linked image, re-link to the new pdf file.
This workflow has been very helpful because I have a lot of complex and carfully formatted tables I need to get into InDesign. Now, since upgrading both my Microsoft Office 2011 and my Adobe CS6 SW it not working.
I can copy, paste-as-pdf, save the pdf file. But when I try to link to it in InDesign it get the message "Failed to open the pdf file."
I can still link to older pdf files with no problem, and I can use this work flow on text-only pdf files from PowerPoint. The pdf files that contain tables are not linking into InDesign. I have tried to do the past-as-pdf into Microsoft Word and the behavior is the same.
All the pdf files look fine in Acrobat.
Thank you very much for any assistance.
-Cecelia

It's a matter of efficiency as much as anything else. I read too many
reports here of people having problems printing previewing or working
with PDFs and it often comes back to preview.
It's fine for JPGs but PDFs? No, especially those generated by InDesign.
Why open them in preview only to find a problem when Reader or Acrobat
are far better applications? It just seems horribly inefficient to have
preview set as the default for PDFs only to find an problem and then
have to quit preview and open Reader or Acrobat.
Bob

How to find a string inside Excel table

Hi,
I am trying to find a string inside Excel table, and it does not work. Please see attached figure. I use the find Invoke Node and do not get anthing.
Please help
Attachments:
find_excel.JPG ‏21 KB

See attached files.
Thanks,
David
Attachments:
Excel_table.xls ‏15 KB
Read_XL.vi ‏42 KB

Excel Table with Data Connection Manual Text Entry Misaligned After Refresh

Greetings!
I have an Excel 2010 workbook that includes a table linked to my SharePoint 2013 site by a data connection. The SharePoint list feeds the table standard information that's managed on the SharePoint site, but I need the user of the Excel workbook to be able
to enter text manually in the workbook to associate local information with the line-items coming from the SharePoint list. To do this, I've added extra columns to the end of the table.
The user can enter information in the appropriate cells in the "extra" columns at the end of the table, but when I refresh the data connection, the addition of a new list item on the SharePoint side results in the user's manually entered text getting
out of alignment with the row it's supposed to be associated with.
Example
Column 1(SP)
Column 2(Extra)
Row 1
Item 1
Row 2
Item 2
Text entered for Item 2
Row 3
Item 3
Then, if I add a new item to the list in SharePoint, for example, something that would appear between the original items 1 & 2, after refreshing the table, I get the following:
Column 1(SP)
Column 2(Extra)
Row 1
Item 1
Row 2
New Item 1.5
Text entered for Item 2
Row 3
Item 2
Row 4
Item 3
The table's data connection is set to insert rows for new items, and I could swear I had this working properly once upon a time...but I can't seem to make it work now.
Any thoughts on what would cause this?
Thanks in advance!

Yes, it is. I realized after posting the first time, that I'd assigned the question to the Visio forum. I wasn't sure how to reassign to the correct (Excel) forum, so I re-posted over there:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/b3bbe00c-94c0-48d4-bed9-fbd08d707b1d/excel-table-with-sharepoint-data-connection-manual-text-entry-misaligned-after-refresh?forum=exceldev

How can I use PowerPivot tables like Excel tables -- printing, etc.?

I can't seem to find any information on this anywhere, and even more surprisingly, no one else seems to have even asked this question...
How can I use tables I create in the Excel PowerPivot window in the same ways I use tables that are in ordinary Excel worksheets, to accomplish tasks such as printing? I am able to use the powerful capabilities of PowerPivot to produce tables with precisely
the information I need for reports -- connecting data from multiple tables/sources, filtering, etc. -- but then there doesn't seem to be any way to actually print what I'm seeing, nor can I seem to access cells in these PowerPivot tables from Excel worksheets.
If a PowerPivot table is conceptually an Excel table with additional power in terms of pulling in data and relating it, it would seem appropriate that all the power of Excel could be brought to bear on these PowerPivot tables, but on the contrary, the available
operations are limited. if, instead, a PowerPivot table is more correctly viewed as a data source that Excel worksheets can connect to, that would be fine, and indeed, one
can use a PowerPivot table as a data source -- except it can't be brought into an Excel worksheet as an ordinary Excel table, unlike most other data sources.
I hope I'm missing something really obvious, and that someone can point out what it is. Thanks.

Kirchh,
When PowerPivot was first designed, the decision was to integrate closely to Sharepoint to allow for team sharing. We are constantly evaluating customer feedback to add more features, and this has been one of the feedbacks we have received. We will consider
supporting this in the future but with no gurantee.
Chu
-- This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
I'm not questioning why PowerPivot is closely integrated with SharePoint. I'm asking why connecting to the PowerPivot model from within Excel was intentionally blocked by Microsoft, when all the functionality to do so appears to be present.
Is creating an OLE DB connection in Excel to PowerPivot as $Embedded$ supported?
No support. It was originally designed for SharePoint. This changed with Power Pivot for Excel 2013 (it's packaged with it). Originally the scope (in 2010 through 2012) was that it was for SharePoint users. So it became more obvious through that to market it
toward all Excel users. Thus the recent changes.
Ed Price, Power BI & SQL Server Customer Program Manager (Blog,
Small Basic,
Wiki Ninjas,
Wiki)
Answer an interesting question?
Create a wiki article about it!

Word 2010 with Embedded Excel table becomes oversized for RDP users

I originally asked this question on the SharePoint Online forums as this was the first time we've seen this issue. Original Post
Summarized: we have a Word template with embedded Excel table created in SharePoint Online, and when a RDP user opens it, the document correctly opens in the local version of Word 2010 (not Word Online). When the table is edited, it becomes
larger to the point you can no longer view the entire table.
We have done some testing with Word 2010 outside of RDP and everything works correctly, the embedded Excel table doesn't become oversized and works as expected. It seems to definitely be an issue with RDP and I've been looking for any assistance
on resolving this issue. I recently did some further testing and found that the only time the table becomes oversized and not view-able is when you copy and paste information from an existing 2003 Excel document. I would think this is the issue,
but it doesn't happen when working with Word and SharePoint outside of an RDP environment.
The template is a .docx file. All RDP users are in a 2008 R2 environment.

I did some testing over the weekend and the simple answer to your question - Not always.
I found 2 variables which seem to cause this to happen:
1) We have 2 TS servers - one with IE 9, which remains to maintain support for a legacy app which will not work with IE 10 or 11, and one with IE 10.
2) Screen resolution of the client computer - it seemed that systems with video configurations which could not exceed the maximum of 1280x1024 (the same screen resolution as our TS servers) didn't experience the issue. There were some laptops
and higher end systems with widescreen monitors, where this was an issue. They typically didn't have a 1280x1024 option; yet even if they did they would experience the same issue, just not as pronounced.
It also seems to only occur when a user copies and pastes information from Excel 2010 into the embedded Excel table in Word 2010. Again, only within RDP. On those client computers which had the problem, I could perform the same function outside
of RDP without any problems. However, this is not an ideal format for the chefs as they will frequently be moving between different systems during the day.

Excel tables in InDesign

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