The InDesigner

UPDATE: The bug detailed below has been fixed in the 6.0.4 update of Adobe InDesign, released 22-Sept-2009. See details in this related post.

If you haven’t already noticed, a very useful feature that’s been around since InDesign CS has been broken in InDesign CS4. I noticed myself when preparing for a recent seminar in Washington, D.C. After creating a Style Mapping preset from the Microsoft Word Import Options dialog, I opened a template and tried to import a Word file using that preset only to find that none of the 20 or so style associations I’d just made had been preserved in the preset. While the preset name was available from the preset menu at the top of the dialog, none of the settings associated with that preset were preserved.

This is a known bug. Adobe is aware of it, but as of now it is not on the agenda to be fixed within the lifespan of CS4. In order for this to be acted on, InDesign users need to get Adobe’s attention focused on it. There is no guarantee that because a bug is “known” that it will ever be fixed (even in CS5) unless customers speak up and enough reports of this broken feature start popping up in the bug database.

Since this is a known bug, it has a bug number assigned to it: 2255226. The URL for submitting the bug is: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

I have reported this bug myself, and specifically referenced the existing bug number. I suggest as many of you as possible do the same—and reference the existing bug number (2255226) when you do—to get this on Adobe’s radar. The form for submitting the bug is pretty straighforward. You fill in your information and answer a couple of questions about the version of the application and your operating system. Not all questions are mandatory.

The last field on the form asks you to summarize the problem. Below is how I summarized it when I reported the bug if you want to just copy it from here an paste it into your bug report.

Let’s see if we can get this fixed by taking action…if not for a subsequent “dot” release update for CS4, then at the very least for CS5.

******BUG******
This is an existing bug (#2255226).
Concise problem statement: Style Mapping presets saved from the Microsoft Word Import Options dialog do not save any of the associations between Word Styles and InDesign Styles. Only the preset name is preserved, but all work done to map styles is lost and must be re-done every time.
Steps to reproduce bug:
1. Make associations between Word and InDesign Styles via Style Mapping (Microsoft Word Import Options)
2.Click Save Preset, name and save preset and import selected file.
3. Attempt to place another Word file using that saved preset.  None of the styles are mapped.
Results: All mapping associations are lost.
Expected results: Paragraph and character styles from Word should be assigned to InDesign styles in the destination document.

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