Word import: why won't my lists come in properly?

[ChoccieMuffin]

I have a big puzzle, and I can't for the life of me work out how to fix it. Perhaps you lovely people can help?

I have a Word document with ONLY styles from stylesheets, no inline styling. (Protect Document is a great Word feature!) This is the document that is used for the content, as in this particular project I do not edit anything in Flare, just import stuff that other people write and the build happens automatically, so just fixing it after import isn't an option.

This is the Word document:

Word.png

This is what it looks like when I've imported it into Flare:

Flare.png

This is the code from the imported file:

Code: Select all

        <h2>Heading</h2>
        <p>Body text.</p>
        <p class="intro">This is an intro paragraph:</p>
        <ol style="list-style-type: decimal;margin-left: 43pt;" start="1">
            <li class="ListNumber">First bullet point, uses ListNumber.</li>
        </ol>
        <ol style="list-style-type: decimal;margin-left: 43pt;" start="2">
            <li class="ListNumber">Second bullet point.</li>
        </ol>
        <li class="ListBullet2" style="list-style-type: disc;">Nested list, uses ListBullet2.</li>
        <p>Body text keep with next:</p>
        <ul style="list-style-type: disc;margin-left: 43pt;">
            <li class="ListBullet" style="list-style-type: disc;">ListBullet</li>
        </ul>
        <ul style="list-style-type: disc;margin-left: 43pt;">
            <li class="ListBullet" style="list-style-type: disc;">Another ListBullet</li>
        </ul>
        <p class="intro">This is an intro paragraph:</p>
        <ol style="list-style-type: decimal;margin-left: 43pt;" start="1">
            <li class="ListNumber">First bullet point, uses ListNumber.</li>
        </ol>
        <ol style="list-style-type: decimal;margin-left: 43pt;" start="2">
            <li class="ListNumber">Second bullet point.</li>
        </ol>
        <ul style="list-style-type: disc;margin-left: 57pt;">
            <li class="ListBullet2" style="list-style-type: disc;">Nested list, uses ListBullet2.</li>
        </ul>
        <p class="KeepWithNext">Body text keep with next:</p>
        <ul style="list-style-type: disc;margin-left: 43pt;">
            <li class="ListBullet" style="list-style-type: disc;">ListBullet</li>
            <li class="ListBullet" style="list-style-type: disc;">Another ListBullet</li>
        </ul>

So why does the second ListBullet2 import properly (that is, it is imported inside a <ul>) but the first one doesn't? Any hints what I need to do to fix this REALLY ANNOYING pain? I've copied the list stuff that works and pasted it on top of the list stuff that doesn't work, and then it doesn't work. No clues. Any suggestions from you clever people?

Thanks

[devjoe]

Frankly, I think both of your numbered lists also imported incorrectly because the two numbered items in each list imported as separate lists rather than a single list. One of them just imported more incorrectly because the following bulleted item imported without a surrounding list tag.

Report a bug to MadCap and attach the Word document which produced this result on import.

[ChoccieMuffin]

Cheers, devjoe.

As for the numbered lists, I've NEVER managed to get numbered lists to import as a single list...

I really HATE the way Word and Flare don't play nicely!

[wclass]

Word lists are a nightmare and not in the least bit intuitive.
In Word, you'll have more luck if you set up one style that uses multi level lists to get the indenting to work in a structured way. Having a separate style of ListBullet2 might look like it is under ListNumber, but Word treats them as separate lists - when Flare tries to import, they will come in as different lists, and hence, unknown formatting.
Unfortunately, while Word lists are the cause of the problem here, Flare does not help matters by including inline styling to the code.
We find that if you start with well defined multi level lists, you still need to use the FAR tool to do some find/replace once imported.

[ChoccieMuffin]

Thanks Margaret.

I have set up the Word template in a very structured way using multi-level lists as you suggest, but Word and Flare still fight over every list item. And the problem was that Flare imported what it clearly identifies as a list item, but doesn't put it inside a <ul> </ul> pair, which means it breaks the document.

Because Flare imports every list item as a separate list (including a list that has, say, five of the same type of list item - see the first two numbered bullets for example) the only way I can get lists to behave in any kind of sensible way is to have separate list classes to deal with the various indents. I also know of no way at all to deal with list items with continuation paragraphs other than to have the people writing the source content select a clearly labelled style when they want something in their source document to look different. The people writing the source content are absolutely rubbish at understanding why they should bother using styles at all, so I have to be very prescriptive and very unambiguous in telling them how to do stuff. And yes, as you suggest I do have to do a fair amount of "tidying up" (like removing that inline styling!) before I publish the document. I do this using scripts written in FAR that runs after the import and then the build script rebuilds the Flare project but without re-importing over the htm files I've just cleaned up. It's a faff, but generally works. (Until I get Flare throwing a fit and refusing to import lists properly!)

Anyway, after a reboot, Flare has started to behave itself again and has imported the document correctly. So I will be reporting this to Madcap as a bug, but I doubt they'll do anything about it as it's intermittent and they're the most difficult bugs to find.

[wclass]

I'm glad it's behaving again. I think you are doing as much as you can with the current Word-Flare list problems. I use FAR to clean up a lot.
Word lists have been broken for years, and Flare does not help by adding the inline styles. I have raised bugs about this before but never got an answer.
If I have a once-off import to do, I usually change the lists in Word to Normal, and then reapply proper lists once in Flare. Usually cleaner than running clean-up macros, but not suitable for automation.

[ChoccieMuffin]

After doing rather a lot of importing etc, later on in the day it started misbehaving again. I have sent a cut-down project showing the problem (and linking to this thread) to Tech Support so I'll let you know if I get an answer. Just don't hold your breath...

Just received an email, and as usual they answered a question I didn't ask and didn't even acknowledge the problem that I described. I really wish Tech Support would read the report and look at source files that are sent before answering the wrong question!

This is what I got:

"Thank you for contacting Madcap Technical Support.

Currently, there is no way for Flare to specifically map list styles from Word. I have submitted a Feature Request on your behalf (#68576) with our development team and you will be notified via email if this feature becomes available in a future patch or release version."

Where did I ask about mapping list styles? Absolutely nowhere! Let's see if they actually look at the files I sent and come up with a more sensible answer.

[smajors]

I have another issues with lists I haven't come across in another thread. Sometimes there will be a random page break in the ordered list in my Word output. I'm not sure what's causing that but I've played with different css settings in my topic and reproduce the Word file and it still breaks up the list. I'll have to play with it some more unless anyone has an idea as to what's causing the random page break?