How do I format a linked Excel file in InDesign and maintain formatting when the Excel is modified?

I'm in CS5.5 . I have no problem placing an Excel spreadsheet with the cell range I want and applying cell formatting in InDesign. I am trying to build eight similar documents that will pull data in several tables from a document specific Excel spreadsheet. The only difference is the data itself. I want to build one master InDesign document (master.indd) that links to a corresponding master Excel file (master.xlsx). I'll then do all the table formatting in master.indd once before saving as the eight individual files I need (doc1.indd, doc2.indx, etc.). Soon I'll receive the specific Excel files (doc1.xlxs, doc2.xlsx, doc3.xlxs, etc.) and I will open each InDesign file and relink master.xlxs to the appropriately numbered and corresponding Excel spreadsheet.
My problem is all the formatting of the imported tables is stripped away when I relink. There are at least 60 tables being imported. I'd prefer to format 60 tables versus 480. I've tried importing the Excel as formatted, unformatted, I've applied cell styles in Excel and InDesign but can't catch a break. Can anyone help?

Or alternatively, do all the formatting in Excel and place as a formatted table.
Bob

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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.
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TKnudt <mailto:[email protected]>
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 6:12 PM
>
How do I print to a postscript file with InDesign CS6 without
both extensions, .indd.ps?
created by TKnudt <http://forums.adobe.com/people/TKnudt> in
/InDesign/ - View the full discussion
<http://forums.adobe.com/message/4996731#4996731

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How do I format a linked Excel file in InDesign and maintain formatting when the Excel is modified?

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