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I have a long word document that I need to import inside InDesign cs5..I really dont want to place every single page by hand and I was wondering if I could somehow automate this process!



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Or simply Shift-Click when you place text on page 1. :)

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It's also necessary to hover on the top left margin corner to get the white (empty) Place pointer before clicking, so that the frame is positioned correctly with the margins. –  Alan Gilbertson Mar 14 '12 at 5:23
thanks Alan for the tip! –  luca Mar 14 '12 at 6:59
You can shift-click anywhere on page 1 and additional pages will be generated and the associated text frames created. Clicking near the top left margin for page 1 helps, but you can always reposition the text frame on page 1 afterwards. –  Scott Mar 14 '12 at 8:58
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  1. Set up your Master Page with a text box.
  2. Create a page. Unlock the text box (Command/Ctrl + Shift + click).
  3. Under Preferences→Type, make sure "Smart Text Reflow" is checked, and select "End of Story" in the dropdown.
  4. Place your Word document in the first page.
  5. Tada!
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Actually, you don't even need to set up a text frame. InDesign will create its own frames sized to the page margins and columns. Holding down shift handles adding pages automatically, regardless of the Smart Reflow setting. –  Alan Gilbertson Mar 14 '12 at 5:21
ooh, thanks! I had figured out this workflow in an earlier version of InDesign and I didn't bother to look up to see if it had changed in subsequent releases. –  Lauren Ipsum Mar 14 '12 at 10:11
Setting up the master page will allow one to do this with arbitrary text box flow, which is different than the auto-magic margin/column, correct? –  horatio Mar 14 '12 at 13:54
That's correct. A text frame on the master page will allow an arbitrary frame size independent of the margins. If you have more than one column on the page, the master page text frame lets you restrict the text flow to the frame rather than filling all page columns, which is the default. –  Alan Gilbertson Mar 14 '12 at 19:24
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