What's new in WordsFlow 3.12.1
Mar 5, 2024
- Changes:
- Adds a “None” option to the Import Options dialog’s Character Style Mapping panel’s Line Across dropdown so that text with no strikethrough or underline can be mapped to a style during an import.
- Allows the import of Word documents with index marks containing custom cross-reference values.
- Fixes the loss of language and writing direction (left-to-right vs right-to-left) settings when updating a linked Word document.
- Fixes a problem that caused exported images to disappear if the images were duplicated across the main flow and endnotes/footnotes.
- Fixes a rare situation where imported table cells were not being merged properly.
- Fixes an uncommon problem with the horizontal scaling of characters imported from a Word file.
New in WordsFlow 3.12.0 (Oct 11, 2023)
- Changes:
- Adds support for InDesign 2024.
- Discontinues support for InDesign 2021. While we’ll no longer fix problems in or add features to discontinued versions, we will otherwise provide normal support indefinitely. Download links for final-version installers for older versions of InDesign that we no longer support can be found in the sidebar of WordsFlow’s Release History page.
- Fixes a problem that could cause some link updates to fail with a KeyError message.
New in WordsFlow 3.11.2 (Aug 24, 2023)
- Changes:
- Fixes a problem that could change the stacking order of a grouped, oval-shaped frame on its layer during a link update.
- Fixes a problem where importing or updating from a Word file that’s missing images within it’s footnotes could fail with an “AttributeError” message.
- Fixes a problem where a link update could lose a hyperlink that’s applied to (and used only by) a single page item.
- Fixes scripting access to WordsFlow’s options for import and export by adding a wordsflowImportOptions property (“wordsflow import options” for AppleScript) to application, document, and story objects. Options are provided as a JSON-encoded string.
New in WordsFlow 3.11.1 (May 26, 2023)
- Fixes a problem where changes made to an Excel file’s import options during a relink could be lost (the original settings, like a named cell range, would seem “stuck”).
New in WordsFlow 3.11.0 (Apr 19, 2023)
- Changes:
- Adds a preference setting for controlling whether a normal file placement (like File > Place or drag-and-drop) is handled like a Place with WordsFlow or a Place without WordsFlow.
- Enable Use WordsFlow when Importing Files with a Normal Place to have WordsFlow manage any text and spreadsheet link created by a normal File > Place (the default setting). When enabled, WordsFlow’s built-in Word filter will be used, if allowed (see below), to import Word 2007+ (.docx) files, whether a link is created or not (as determined by InDesign’s Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files setting in Preferences > File Handling). Disable this setting if you’d like File > Place to behave as if WordsFlow isn’t installed: neither WordsFlow nor its built-in Word filter will participate in the import, and any link that’s created won’t be managed by WordsFlow.
- Previously, normal places always behaved like Place with WordsFlow.
- For reference, a File > WordsFlow > Place with WordsFlow always creates a link for text and spreadsheet files and always manages the resulting link. WordsFlow’s built-in Word filter is used instead of Adobe’s unless it’s disabled (see below). A File > WordsFlow > Place without WordsFlow creates a link for text and spreadsheet files only if requested in the Place without WordsFlow dialog but never manages that created link, and always uses Adobe’s Word filter for Word 2007+ (.docx) files.
- Enable Import Word Documents with WordsFlow’s Built-In Filter (the default) to use WordsFlow’s included Word filter instead of Adobe’s filter when importing Word 2007+ (.docx) files with a WordsFlow-managed place. Why use Em’s Word filter instead of Adobe’s? Ours provides better performance, a broader feature set, and more timely support and fixes. This setting was mainly to help with the transition to WordsFlow 3, and we don’t recommend disabling it.
- Adds automatic PDF export of a linked WordsFlow story when its link or the linked file is updated. Automatic PDF export is controlled by settings in the new PDF Export on Update group in WordsFlow’s Preferences panel.
- When a Link is Updated – when selected, WordsFlow automatically exports a linked story when the link is updated by a Link Update or created with a Link to Original Document.
- When a Linked Document is Updated – when selected, WordsFlow automatically exports a linked story when the linked document is updated by a Update Linked Document or created with an Export with WordsFlow.
- Use PDF Preset – selects the PDF style for the automatic export. Because this setting is stored in the current document and Adobe’s PDF presets are stored on each machine, be sure that the selected preset will be available on any machine that the document will be opened on.
- Note that A PDF is never automatically exported when a file is first placed.
- PDFs created by an automatic export contain only those document pages on which the linked story is present. PDFs are created “next to” the linked file (so, in the same folder as the linked item) and are given the same name as the linked file with a “.pdf” extension. For example, if the linked Word file’s path is “/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/Chris/Desktop/Report.docx“, then a PDF named “Report.docx.pdf” will be exported to Chris’s Desktop folder.
- WordsFlow’s PDF preferences are accessible in scripting on the application object and on document objects (as exportPDFAfterLinkUpdate, exportPDFAfterLinkedDocumentUpdate, and pdfStyle).
- Adds a Change Tracking setting to WordsFlow’s Import Options dialog’s Advanced Options for Updates panel. Select None to disable change tracking during a link update, which, if not needed, can improve the stability and speed of link updates with large files. Otherwise, select All InDesign Changes and Latest Incoming Changes, the default, so the updated story will contain changes encountered during the update (viewable with Window > Editorial > Track Changes or Edit > Edit in Story Editor).
- Adds support for importing a Word file’s old math equations. You may need to save the file as .doc and then back to .docx, in Word, to force Word to generate images for the embedded math.
- Fixes a problem where exporting a story containing anchored objects could create a .docx file that Word can’t open. Anchored objects within stories are now always exported as inline objects.
- Fixes a problem where exporting a story containing a group with an unexportable element could create a .docx file that Word can’t open.
- Fixes a problem where frame badges might not redraw with the red “+” symbol when a story’s content status changes (the “Story Status” field in the Links panel).
- Fixes a problem where an expired WordsFlow trial could block the use of a normal File > Place.
New in WordsFlow 3.10.0 (Mar 3, 2023)
- Changes:
- Adds First Line Indent to the list of source options for mapping a paragraph style in the Import Options dialog.
- Adds Advanced Merge Options to the Import Options dialog that can be accessed with a new Advanced Options for Updates… button in the main dialog.
- Adds the ability to freeze the existing formatting of table rows and/or columns in Advanced Merge Options to prevent styling from wandering during an update.
- Adds support for importing Word bookmarks as text anchors that can be used for hyperlink destinations.
- Fixes a problem introduced in the 3.7.1 release where an Export with WordsFlow to an existing, linked file could delete that file and leave a link with a Missing status.
- Fixes a problem that could cause InDesign to quit unexpectedly when updating a link containing a table with more than 55,000 cells.
- Fixes a problem where exporting a story with complex nesting of anchored styles could create a docx file that Word can’t open.
- Fixes a problem where only the first instance of a shared hyperlink would be imported from the Word file.
- Fixes the import of nested and/or sorted index entries.
- Fixes a problem where removing attributes like bold or italic with an override in Word might not show up in the InDesign story.
- Fixes a problem that could cause the export of a story with endnotes to fail if other stories in the document contain endnotes with hyperlinks or cross-references in them.
- Fixes a problem with the License dialog when showing a license that has expired.
- Fixes licensing maintenance and stability issues.
New in WordsFlow 3.9.1 (Dec 29, 2022)
- This patch fixes compatibility with Adobe’s InDesign 2023 18.1 Windows release.
- Changes:
- Works around a problem in Adobe’s InDesign 2023 18.1 Windows release that can cause InDesign to quit unexpectedly during startup with an “Entry Point Not Found” error when loading a plug-in made for the initial InDesign 2023 18.0 release that includes a “Save File”-type dialog (like WordsFlow’s Export with WordsFlow dialog). (Windows-only)
New in WordsFlow 2.4.1 (Feb 27, 2015)
- Changes:
- Patches an InDesign bug that could produce erratically-styled text when importing a Word or Excel file without first selecting the [None] character style. WordsFlow now automatically activates the [None] character style for any import initiated with Place with WordsFlow.
- Fixes a problem where the styling applied to text that had been imported from a Word or Excel file as “unformatted” could change unexpectedly after an Update or a Relink. Unfortunately, existing Word and Excel links will need to be re-Placed to take advantage of this fix.
- Works around a Word limitation that could cause styles with spaces, underlines, or symbols in their names to be lost when re-importing text that was previously exported by WordsFlow and then edited in Word.
- Fixes a situation where an Export with WordsFlow to an existing but busy file would fail without any notice. WordsFlow will now show a “…the file is already open by another application or another user on the network and cannot be replaced until it has been closed” alert.
New in WordsFlow 2.0.0 Beta 3 (Aug 14, 2014)
- Adds support for exporting tab stops to Word 2007 (.docx) files.
- Adds the ability to export hyperlinks to Word files.
- Adds support for exporting auto-numbering and bullets to Word files.
- Fixes a Word export problem when contained images are linked more than once.
- Fixes a problem which was preventing the export of stories with non-URL hyperlinks to Word files by exporting them as plain text.
- Prevents the export of zero-height borders, which aren’t supported by Word.
New in WordsFlow 1.2.4 (Jul 19, 2014)
- Works around a problem with our CC 2014 development tools, where Microsoft’s inter-module optimizer could generate incorrect machine code and produce a corrupt product. This would then cause some common activities, like placing a text file, to fail and possibly shut down InDesign. (CC 2014/Windows only)
- Fixes a problem where running out of memory during an update could cause InDesign to shut down. Now, the update is canceled and an out-of-memory alert is displayed.
New in WordsFlow 2.0.0 Beta 2 (Jul 17, 2014)
- Fixes a critical and frequently-hit bug in WordsFlow Pro export.
New in WordsFlow 1.2.3 (Jul 15, 2014)
- Adds support for InDesign CC 2014. The CC 2014 plug-in is a free update from CC that requires a valid WordsFlow CC-level or CC 2014-level (version 9 or 10) license. Please contact our sales department to purchase an upgrade license from a pre-CC plug-in or to see if you qualify for a free upgrade.
- Fixes a problem introduced in 1.2.2 where an update could cause a table row or column that had been deleted in InDesign to reappear for no reason.
- Works around an InDesign bookmark problem that could cause InDesign to shut down when exporting to PDF.
- Prevents unnamed colors from being lost during an update.
- Prevents the loss of footnote changes in InDesign when a large portion of the footnote has been deleted in the linked file.
- Fixes a problem where a plug-in might not find its license code if it’s being used in both the 32-bit and 64-bit InDesign CC applications in Windows.
New in WordsFlow 2.0.0 Beta 1 (Jun 26, 2014)
- WordsFlow Pro adds two items to its File > WordsFlow > menu: Update Linked Document and Export with WordsFlow… (both of which are also available in a contextual menu on the story when editing, and in the Links panel when a WordsFlow-linked story is selected).
- Update Linked Document (only available when the link is up to date) will update the linked Word document with the contents of the current InDesign story, re-creating as far as possible the look and feel of the InDesign contents (fonts, spacing, indents, etc.). (We realize that some users may want to not disturb the current formatting of the Word document, but only merge in the textual changes, and that’s on our road map, though not immediate.)
- Export with WordsFlow… will create a new Word document with the current contents of the current InDesign story, re-creating the look and feel as above, and linking the current story to the newly-created Word document.
New in WordsFlow 1.2.2 (Jan 3, 2014)
- Changes:
- Improves how table conflicts are handled during updates, where a table row or column that’s been deleted on one side of the link is now retained (or resurrected) if the text content of any of its constituent cells has been changed on the other. The resulting “zombie” row/column will contain conflict markers to indicate the edited cells.
- Fixes a problem where merge conflicts could cause an update to fail.
New in WordsFlow 1.2.1 (Nov 2, 2013)
- Adds support for InDesign CC. The CC plug-in requires a valid WordsFlow CC-level license. Please contact our sales department to purchase an upgrade license or obtain a free upgrade if you purchased WordsFlow on or after January 1, 2013.
- Fixes a problem that could, in rare situations, prevent WordsFlow from updating documents with linked text frames.
- Fixes a problem that could cause updates with many table cell changes to fail.
- Fixes occasional loss of styling within tables and anchored text frames.
New in WordsFlow 1.2.0 (Sep 18, 2013)
- Adds a WordsFlow link icon to the frames of all WordsFlow-managed stories. The icon will show for newly imported and updated stories but not, unfortunately, for existing linked stories.
- Works around an InDesign bug where updating a story containing custom-anchored frames would cause InDesign to shut down. Since this InDesign problem, which we’ve observed in all versions of InDesign from CS5 through CS6, affects any ICML import containing custom-anchored frames, we took a few extra moments to make our solution guard any ICML import, including those initiated by, say, InCopy, against shutdowns.
- Adds conflict markers, displayed as InDesign Notes, to show where WordsFlow resolved a merge conflict that may require additional attention. InDesign’s Notes panel (Window > Editorial > Notes) can then be used to select, view, and remove conflict markers that were inserted during an update.
- Improves the resolution of merge conflicts by letting the Word/Excel text always “win” for content order and the InDesign story always “win” for formatting. For example, when updating an InDesign story from a Word document, if the same piece of text has been moved in both, then WordsFlow will let the Word text determine the location of the resulting piece of text in the merged InDesign story. Similarly, if both have style changes to the same piece of text, then WordsFlow will let the InDesign story determine how the resulting piece of text is styled. As noted above, a conflict marker (in the form of an InDesign Note) will be inserted at the location of any such conflict.
- Fixes a problem where a copy of a linked story might not update or relink properly.
- Fixes a problem where the Import Options dialog of a Relink of a Word document was showing the current default settings rather than the import’s original settings.
- Fixes a problem where pasting a WordsFlow-linked frame could cause InDesign to shut down.
- Improves error reporting when an update fails for some reason.
- Improves the handling of quote characters, hyphens, and non-breaking spaces during updates.
- Improves character style-level conflict handling.
- Fixes a problem where a story linked to a Word document that was originally placed with the import option Remove Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables selected would lose all styling during an update.
- Fixes a problem where deleted hyperlinks could cause an update to hang.
New in WordsFlow 1.1.0 (Mar 8, 2013)
- Moves the WordsFlow menu to the File menu and adds dedicated Place with WordsFlow… and Place without WordsFlow… actions.
- Improves the handling of text differences where only the case has changed.
- Improves greatly the handling of tables, table movement, row/column movement, and cell movement and spanning during updates.
- Improves the handling of updates with linked documents whose styling has been lost or reset by preserving the InDesign-applied styling.
- Fixes a problem where updates of unformatted Excel tables placed with drag’n'drop could fail.
- Fixes a problem where updating a copy of a linked Excel/Word document could produce unexpected results.
- Fixes a problem which was preventing stories placed from a loaded place gun into an existing frame from being managed.
- Fixes a problem which was causing the Track Changes panel to display random time stamps after an update.
- Addresses an issue where index entries could, in rare instances, be lost during updates.
- Addresses an issue where updating a document containing cross-references could cause InDesign to shut down.
- Fixes a problem where table cell attributes could be lost during an update.
- Fixes a problem where updating with common changes in both the InDesign story and the linked document could cause InDesign to shut down.
New in WordsFlow 1.0.1 (Nov 20, 2012)
- This release fixes a serious bug with update failures in the face of Word documents with embedded graphics, and adds some behind-the-scenes enhancements.
- Changes:
- Fix a bug where embedded graphics in a Word document would confuse WordsFlow to the point that a first update from the given document would work, but then subsequent updates could fail.
- Improve the handling of large content changes.
- Work around an InDesign problem that would lose index entries during updates.
New in WordsFlow 1.0.0 (Nov 2, 2012)
- We’ve changed the way that WordsFlow works, by making text and spreadsheet placement linking controllable by the InDesign global preference Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files. We turn this preference on by default when we first run, and then you can decide whether you’d like it on or off by default after that. If it’s on, you can use File > Place without WordsFlow… to place files without linking, and if it’s off, that menu item changes to Place with WordsFlow… so you can opt-in to linking.
New in WordsFlow 1.0 Preview 3 (Oct 16, 2012)
- Update the expiration date of the trial version to November 5.
- Properly handle nested stories coming from Word.