Importing a WORD table into a topic

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jutta
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Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by jutta »

I want to import big tables created in MS Word into one or several topics in MadCap Flare V3.1. If I import it into the text part the formatting gets lost and I get one long string instead of the table. If I import the table into a predefined table consisting of one cell only, I have the same result. If the table is imported in a table having the required number of columns and rows the result is not better.

Is there a way to avoid creating all these tables from the scratch in Madcap Flare? I found only one answer in the forum stating that a Word table was imported in MadCap Flare. So I have the hope that it might work. Can anybody give me some hints how to proceed?

Jutta
KevinDAmery
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by KevinDAmery »

Are you using Flare's Word Import feature, or are you trying to copy / paste the table from Word into a topic? As far as I know copying / pasting doesn't work for tables, so if you haven't already I would try using the Word import feature.

You can create a new import in the Project Organizer under Imports.
Until next time....
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Kevin Amery
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LTinker68
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by LTinker68 »

If you're copying-and-pasting and you're using Flare v4, there is an option to paste content as a table. I haven't used it since I'm not copying content into this project, so I'm not sure how well it works, but you could try that.
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jutta
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by jutta »

KevinDAmery wrote:Are you using Flare's Word Import feature, or are you trying to copy / paste the table from Word into a topic? As far as I know copying / pasting doesn't work for tables, so if you haven't already I would try using the Word import feature.

You can create a new import in the Project Organizer under Imports.
Thank you very much for your answer, Kevin. As you proposed I managed to import the Word file with tables using this Word Import feature, and it worked. :)

Thanks a lot,

Jutta
jutta
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by jutta »

LTinker68 wrote:If you're copying-and-pasting and you're using Flare v4, there is an option to paste content as a table. I haven't used it since I'm not copying content into this project, so I'm not sure how well it works, but you could try that.
Thank you for your proposal. In the meantime I managed to import the Word tables using the Word Import feature proposed by Kevin because I'm using Flare V3.1.
But it is interesting to learn that such an option is now available in Flare V4.

Thanks a lot for your help.
Jutta
navoff
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by navoff »

LTinker68 wrote:If you're copying-and-pasting and you're using Flare v4, there is an option to paste content as a table. I haven't used it since I'm not copying content into this project, so I'm not sure how well it works, but you could try that.
FYI, it works pretty well. However, Flare doesn't recognize rows set as header rows in Word. Once I copy and paste a table in, I'll go to the table properties and select the table style (making sure to specify that there is a table header row). It will apply the settings to the table but leave a blank header row at the top of the table. Then I'll cut and paste the contents from the cells in the first body row (what was the header row in Word) into the cells in the table header, then delete the empty body row. Also, complex tables with lots of merged cells may not always retain those merges correctly, in which case I'd have to re-apply them once I pasted the table. In some cases, what I got in Flare was really messed up. Sometimes just deleting the pasted table and starting over helped.
JRP
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navoff
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by navoff »

navoff wrote:
LTinker68 wrote:If you're copying-and-pasting and you're using Flare v4, there is an option to paste content as a table. I haven't used it since I'm not copying content into this project, so I'm not sure how well it works, but you could try that.
FYI, it works pretty well. However, Flare doesn't recognize rows set as header rows in Word. Once I copy and paste a table in, I'll go to the table properties and select the table style (making sure to specify that there is a table header row). It will apply the settings to the table but leave a blank header row at the top of the table. Then I'll cut and paste the contents from the cells in the first body row (what was the header row in Word) into the cells in the table header, then delete the empty body row. Also, complex tables with lots of merged cells may not always retain those merges correctly, in which case I'd have to re-apply them once I pasted the table. In some cases, what I got in Flare was really messed up. Sometimes just deleting the pasted table and starting over helped.
Another option, is once you've pasted the table into a Flare topic, use the internal text editor to add the <thead></thead> and <tbody></tbody> tags. I also change the <td> tags in the header row to <th>. Once I have those things changed, then when I go to the table properties, and select the style I want, it will recognize the rows inside the <thead></thead> as header rows and will apply the correct style to them.

I've submitted a request to have Flare retain the heading information from a Word table. Word must be doing something that flags the header lines in order to make them repeat at the top of each page so it should provide Flare with the necessary information to set the header row(s) apart from the body of the table.
JRP
"How many slime-trailing, sleepless, slimy, slobbering things do you know that will run and hide from your Eveready?"
--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
LTinker68
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by LTinker68 »

navoff wrote:I've submitted a request to have Flare retain the heading information from a Word table. Word must be doing something that flags the header lines in order to make them repeat at the top of each page so it should provide Flare with the necessary information to set the header row(s) apart from the body of the table.
To get the header row(s) to repeat from page to page in print output, add the following code to the print medium section of the stylesheet:

Code: Select all

thead
	{
		display: table-header-group;
	}
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Lisa
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Warning! Loose nut behind the keyboard.
navoff
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by navoff »

LTinker68 wrote:
navoff wrote:I've submitted a request to have Flare retain the heading information from a Word table. Word must be doing something that flags the header lines in order to make them repeat at the top of each page so it should provide Flare with the necessary information to set the header row(s) apart from the body of the table.
To get the header row(s) to repeat from page to page in print output, add the following code to the print medium section of the stylesheet:

Code: Select all

thead
	{
		display: table-header-group;
	}
Actually, I don't have a problem in Flare getting table header rows to repeat from page to page. It does that by default. The problem is when bringing in a table from Word (either copy and paste or Word import) with Flare not recognizing that there is a header row. It flags the entire table as part of the body, or rather, it doesn't add the <thead></thead> and <tbody></tbody> tags around the header and body rows. So, when you try to apply the table style to it, the row that should be the header, becomes the first body row. Then you have to manually cut and paste the information from the table cells into the header row. Either that, or you need to modify the table before you try to apply a table style to it.

You can tell that Flare isn't picking up on the fact that there are header rows when you try to apply a style because if the <thead> and <tbody> tags are present, it will automatically figure out how many columns, body rows and header rows there are. If the <thead> and <tbody> tags are missing, then it the number of header rows is set to 0. It's the lack of <thead></thead> and <tbody></tbody> tags that messes things up. However, as I said before, there should be something about the header row in Word that distinguishes as a header row (since Word knows enough to repeat the header row on each page). The Flare developers need to figure out how to preserve that information when the table gets imported from Word into Flare. Then there wouldn't need to be any of these after import fixes.
JRP
"How many slime-trailing, sleepless, slimy, slobbering things do you know that will run and hide from your Eveready?"
--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
kpfautz
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by kpfautz »

I am encountering this same problem also. My clients want to maintain content in Word, and have a "one-click" solution for generating online Help. Flare's inability to sense a table header is causing a lot of manual editing that is unacceptable to them.

How can I submit a change request to MadCap to automatically sense a table header in Word when importing?
navoff
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by navoff »

kpfautz wrote:I am encountering this same problem also. My clients want to maintain content in Word, and have a "one-click" solution for generating online Help. Flare's inability to sense a table header is causing a lot of manual editing that is unacceptable to them.

How can I submit a change request to MadCap to automatically sense a table header in Word when importing?
Go to their Bug/Enhancement Submission Form:

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx
JRP
"How many slime-trailing, sleepless, slimy, slobbering things do you know that will run and hide from your Eveready?"
--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
nozibee
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by nozibee »

I found a work around for copying tables from a word document as I did not want to import a whole document in just a table

If you copy the table into a site like:

http://word2cleanhtml.com/

You can then copy the coverted HTML source and paste it into Madcap Source editor window

Works like a dream :)
Vola_newbie
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by Vola_newbie »

thanks for the tip !
williamgwilliams
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Re: Importing a WORD table into a topic

Post by williamgwilliams »

Thanks for this timely and useful tip! This saved me considerable time.

- Willie Williams
-----------------------------------
nozibee wrote:I found a work around for copying tables from a word document as I did not want to import a whole document in just a table

If you copy the table into a site like:

http://word2cleanhtml.com/

You can then copy the coverted HTML source and paste it into Madcap Source editor window

Works like a dream :)
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