How to import MS Word documents to Arbortext Editor

[ptc-3982227]

Hi, I may need to import some docs that are written with MS Word to Arbortext Editor in a short future.

The Arbortext Editor we use is a customized version based on Arbortext Editor 5.3. There's no import/export function with the editor. Instead, there's Import Text File function.

I have tried to save one doc as .txt and then use the Import Text File function but that didn't give me much help. It feels like a copy-paste function.

Could you guys give me suggestions about how to make the conversion more efficient or perform an automatic conversion if possible?

Thanks very much!

[GarethOakes]

PTC actually sells an Arbortext product called "Import/Export" which does the MS Word conversion. If you were on 6.0 you could also try the copy/paste feature to paste in from a Word document.

If you fancy developing your own solution then there are a bunch of open source tools out there which can take .docx to XML formats such as Docbook. These are mostly based on XSLT so you would want to be comfortable with that language.

BTW if you have a large amount of documents to convert then it might be best to outsource these to an offshore conversion vendor.

[ptc-3982227]

Thanks Gareth for the info.

Is there any means other than Import/Export function?

There's no such function but Import Text File function embedded in the version we have. I tried the Import Text File function and it felt like a simple copy/paste function.

Also, developing an XML schema or the like to automatically convert the format is beyong my current capability...:(

If there's no other method, I think I will have to do the simple copy/paste.

[pnagai]

Unfortunately,

There are no simple methods (and, frankly, Import/Export isn't simple either), for importing content into Editor. The 6.0 release improved the situation considerably.

If you are not talking about a lot of documents, you could install a standalone instance of Editor 6.0 to take advantage of its enhanced import capabilities. There might be licensing issues (technically, in your shop) since 6.0 uses different software to manage licenses. You can't just copy the license file you used in 5.3 over (assuming you had a license file and weren't using a license server).

If you end up doing copy/paste importing, especially if you do not do it in 6.0, explore the possibility of taking tables through Excel. In many cases, this is a best path.

[ptc-2480807]

Hi I just replied to Chocolate Lu with this post. If anyone is still out there using Arbortext Editor 5.3, please help.

I used the import/export selection under custom to install this function. When I open Arbortext I only see the IMport Text File function. We do have Import/Export licenses, however I do not get the entire Import/Export function. Are there separate installation files I need to find from my IT department that are not on the disk?

Please help!

[ClayHelberg]

Hi Chocolate--

You could also try OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer, the open source analog of MS Word. It can read Word files, and can also save files as DocBook XML. Depending on how the original Word files are formatted, you may have to do some tweaking in order to get something useful out of the Save As operation, but that is likely to be true no matter what method you use.

Even if DocBook isn't the doctype you are using, it will probably be a lot easier to convert from DocBook to your DTD than it would be from Word XML directly.

--Clay

[awall-2]

Hi, Chocolate Lu.

Have you ever found out the solution to your problem? As for me, I have never tried to import MS Word documents to Arbortext Editor before. I wonder whether the Word editor I am testing these days can help import MS Word documents to Arbortext Editor or not. Or you can also google it and select a fine Word Doc SDK whose way of processing is simple and fast to help you with the related converting work. It will be better if it is totally manual and can be customized by users according to our own favors. Remember to check its free trial package first if possible. I hope you success. Good luck.

Best regards,

Arron

[kregimbald]

We have been converting Word documents into Arbortext Editor for years now. We have also been searcing for a way to do this automatically. Unfortunately, the only way we have achieved 100% conversion has been through copy/paste. When it comes to tables, we copy the table into Excel first and then copy the table into Arbortext Editor. This is the cleanest way to bring the table contents (columns, headers, etc) into Arbortext Editor.

In my experience, there is nothing out there (yet) that will give you 100% conversion from Word to XML.

[TshedisoSerei]

Kathleen

I also have some challenges with importing tables using Import/Export. Could you please elaborate a bit more on copying to Excel and then into Editor? Do you get your table as shown in MS Word copied into Editor? e.g. if it has no borders, specific size, etc. Are there specific settings or things to look out for when doing the conversion?

Thanking you

Tshediso

[kregimbald · Accepted solution]

So here are the steps that we use:

1. Copy entire table from Word

2. Paste the table into Excel spreadsheet

3. Scope the entire table and copy

4. Open Arbortext Editor and place the cursor where you want the table

5. Right click at that location and a drop-down menu appears.

6. Choose "Paste Excel"

7. The Excel Export Options window will appear

8. Choose the options that best suit your needs (title, no title, preserve, not preserve etc.)

9. Click "ok" and the table will be inserted.

Note: Depending on whether you have columns or rows that span each other, you may need to do some clean up of the table (empty cells, remove extra rule between cells). ALL content, however, will be included in the table. You should not lose any content during the process.

[TshedisoSerei]

Thank you Kathleen

I have tesed and it works perfect - much appreciated.

[ptc-2480807]

Hi I installed Arbortext 5.3 Import/Export from the distribution disk. We have Import/Export licenses, one of which I installed. I still only get Import from Text File. I do not get the entire Import/Export function. Are there other installation files I should be asking my IT department for?

Please help ASAP! I have a customer who desperately needs this function.

[ClayHelberg]

Hi George--

It's been a while since I used 5.3, but IIRC the Import/Export workbench is an optional part of the installation. So, you may need to rerun the installer and check the optional components to make sure the full Import/Export feature is installed.

Make sure to select "Custom" instead of "Express" installation, and then make sure anything related to Import/Export is selected.

--Clay

[ptc-2480807]

Thank you Clay. We installed Import/Export and registered the license. It turns out you have to edit the file feature.cf, located in C:\Program Files\Arbortext\Editor\lib\

Find the line set featureImportExport=off and change this to on.

Once this was changed to On and we restarted Arbortext the menu selections appeared correctly.

[tgalvin]

What if you wanted to take content from Arbortext Editor and convert it to Word? What would be the best way to do this?

[kregimbald]

Fortunately for us, our content is available online. Basically, we copy the online content from a browser into Word. Very little cleanup involved. Perhaps a little with table columns. Text and graphics come across nicely. When we tried copy\paste from Arbortext Editor to Word it was just too messy. We also tried writing an XSL script to convert the content to Word. Unfortunately, no matter how much we tweaked the script we continued to lose content during the conversion. It was just too unreliable.