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Converting PageMaker Files
InDesign can open some PageMaker files. Select the file you want
to convert, and then click the Open button. (To do this in Windows,
choose the file type you want to open from the Files of Type pop-up
menu, or choose All Documents.) InDesign converts the file and
opens it as a new, untitled InDesign publication. However, before
you convert a file, we strongly encourage you to open it in PageMaker,
make sure the images are all linked properly and available on a local
hard drive, and perform a Save As to save a clean copy of the file for
conversion.
How well does this conversion process work? That depends on the
publication you’re trying to open, but you should never expect the
conversion process to be perfect. There are simply too many differ-
ences in the capabilities of the different products.
InDesign also does a good job of converting text formatting,
though line endings may change due to InDesign’s different (we
think superior) composition features. (The conversion process
applies the Adobe Paragraph Composer to the text; if you want to
match the original spacing, you can try changing this to Single Line
Composer; we talk about how to do this in Chapter 4, “Type.”) The
following sections provide more detail on what you can expect to
see when you convert publications from other page layout programs.
Conversion Issues As you convert, or prepare to convert, publications from PageMaker
to InDesign, keep the following in mind:
▶▶ Pasteboard items. Any objects on the pasteboard in a Page-
Maker publication are placed on the pasteboard of the first
spread in the converted publication.
▶▶ Master page items. All master page items are assigned to a layer
named “Master.”
▶▶ Ruler guides. All ruler guides in the PageMaker publication are
converted and are placed on a new layer named “Guides.”
▶▶ Non-printing objects. If you’ve suppressed the printing of an
object in PageMaker (to do this, you select the object and choose
Non-Printing from the Element menu), InDesign converts the
item and sets it to non-printing.
▶▶ Book list. The book list of the PageMaker publication is not
copied to the InDesign version of the publication.
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▶▶ Leading. PageMaker has three leading methods: Top of Caps,
Proportional, and Baseline. InDesign’s leading method is most
similar to PageMaker’s Baseline leading method. When you con-
vert a PageMaker publication, you can expect text in paragraphs
using the other PageMaker leading methods to shift up or down
on the page (usually down).
In addition, the position of the first baseline of text in an
InDesign text frame is determined by the Offset pop-up menu
in the First Baseline section of the Text Frame Options dialog
box. By default, InDesign applies the Ascent option—which can
make text in converted PageMaker publications shift vertically.
If you used PageMaker’s Baseline leading method, choose Lead-
ing from the Offset pop-up menu to restore the position of your
text baselines to their original position.
▶▶ Font and type style conversion. When, during the process of
converting a PageMaker publication, InDesign encounters a
font change or type style change, it tries to map the PageMaker
formatting into its InDesign equivalent. This isn’t always pos-
sible. When you apply the font “Minion” and type style “Bold”
to text in a PageMaker publication, PageMaker applies Minion
Semibold—and that’s what InDesign applies. When you apply
the type style “Bold” to Minion Bold or Minion Black however,
InDesign displays an error message and applies Minion Bold.
The conversion is actually better than we’d expected, given the
differences in specifying fonts in the two programs—but you’ll
have to closely check converted publications against your origi-
nal PageMaker versions.
InDesign does not support the PageMaker type style Shadow,
and formats any text using that type style as plain text. InDesign
converts text formatted using the Outline type style to text
formatted with a hairline (.25 point) stroke and a fill of the color
“Paper.” You’ll also notice that the position and thickness of the
bar in text using the Underline or Strikethrough type styles
changes slightly in the InDesign version of the publication.
▶▶ Tracking. InDesign removes all kerning applied by PageMaker’s
Expert Tracking command (the tracks “Very Loose,” “Loose,”
“Normal,” “Tight,” and “Very Tight”). InDesign’s “tracking” is
the same as PageMaker’s Range Kerning feature, not PageMak-
er’s Expert Tracking feature.
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▶▶ Colors. Colors defined using the HLS and Hexachrome color
models are converted to RGB colors. Tints are converted to new
colors in the Swatches panel.
▶▶ OLE/Publish and Subscribe. Files imported into PageMaker
using (pre Mac OS X) Publish and Subscribe and Windows’ OLE
will be omitted.
▶▶ Image control settings. InDesign doesn’t have a set of features
corresponding to those found in PageMaker’s Image Control
dialog box, and any settings you’ve applied to images using
these controls will be removed from the images in the converted
version of the publication.
▶▶ Fill patterns. PageMaker features a variety of goofy fill patterns
(making possible what Edward Tufte dubbed “chartjunk”) that
date from the early Stone Age of desktop publishing. These
anachronisms are converted to solid fills.
▶▶ Imported graphics. Even if an image is embedded in a Page-
Maker publication, InDesign requires an up-to-date link to the
original version of the graphic. If InDesign can’t find the origi-
nal graphic, it uses the screen preview image in the PageMaker
publication (if any such image exists). If you’ve placed a PDF in
the PageMaker file, InDesign may place the wrong page of that
PDF in the InDesign version.
Additional Info For more information, see the Switching from PageMaker to InDe-
sign Conversion Guide:
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/pdfs/PM-IDconvguide_
Final.pdf
