Problems with documents imported from Word

[Steve Rickaby]

At 10:15 -0500 29/7/14, Theresa de Valence wrote:

>What do I do to clean up files which originate in Word or PDF. I'm turning crime fiction novels into ebooks and have run into a few problems.

Well, Word is a crime, and mostly fiction, that's for sure ;-)

>Case 1:
>I import simple Word files into Frame then publish as epub or mobi. In the finished version there are strange display behaviours in the middle of the book (font size and weight and italic drastically change, then return to normal).
>
>Is there a way I can "clean" files before I begin preparing them for publishing?

Others may well have additional advice to add, but here are some procedures that I use:

. If at all possible and cost-effective, tag the Word sources so that the tags match those you will use in Frame. (However, from your description, I doubt whether styles have been used in Word.)

. Always 'maggy' a Word document before importing it. If you're not familiar with 'maggying', it involves copying the entire Word source (in Word) *except* the final pilcrow into a new, clean Word document, then using that for the import. I'm informed that Word 'stores' all sorts of gunk in the final pilcrow of a document that is best removed.

With Word there will always be some manual clean-up, but the above may help to minimise it.

>Case 2:

...is outside my experience, I'm afraid.

>I never work in Word to do any work, except when I am copyediting a nearly complete document (using Track Changes). Advice please?

Never working in Word is about as good advice as there is ;-)

-- 
Steve