Publisher - Can you export a file to Word?

[Maaja]

Thanks for posting this. I was beginning to think I was the only person on this forum using AP to format a paperback novel. I'm an indie author. My only trips to Vegas have been for the 20Books Conferences.

Good luck with all your endeavours. (Outside of books I use Canuck spelling)

Maaja

[ubercool]

Haha, no worries about Canuck spelling, I lived in Winterpeg for a year. 😁 Looks like 20 Books is on for November! 🎰

Cheers,
Michael

[Maaja]

Yes, maybe I'll see you there but not this year.

[PaoloT]

Not sure this allows exchanging every format, but on the Mac one can select all the text in Publisher, copy it, and then paste it into a word processor. As far as I can see, paragraph styles are transferred, as it would happen by exporting and importing files. Other things may be missing.

Paolo

EDIT: This is true with AfPub V1 and Microsoft Word, and apparently Nisus Writer Pro (but I had one style missing). It doesn't happen with the Mojave version of Apple Pages.

 

[Old Bruce]

What I see is the text contains the formatting but styles are not imported/copied in Apple's Pages or Text Edit when pasting. This is even if the styles have the same names. Cannot say for sure what happens in Word.

[Gideon S]

I had a similar need and have found that Acrobat's export feature actually has incredible results for converting PDF to Word. If you have the pro version of Acrobat you can use the export option and choose Word Document as the export format. But make sure to set the Layout settings to Retain Page Layout and not Retain Flowing Text. By doing this I'm able to get an almost exact replica of my complex Publisher file in Word with only some minor font issues which are easy to fix.

[ubercool]

On 2/5/2022 at 6:03 PM, Gideon S said:

I had a similar need and have found that Acrobat's export feature actually has incredible results for converting PDF to Word. If you have the pro version of Acrobat you can use the export option and choose Word Document as the export format. But make sure to set the Layout settings to Retain Page Layout and not Retain Flowing Text. By doing this I'm able to get an almost exact replica of my complex Publisher file in Word with only some minor font issues which are easy to fix.

First of all, I don't need a precise layout of my Publisher file in Word. I already have the Publisher document for that. What I need is the ability to select all the text in a story and export it to a Word file, so it can be corrected/edited and then reimported. I tried what you suggested and it, unfortunately, produced a document in which the text was unselectable, like frozen, at least in Mac Pages. Google Docs produced an error message that read “Server rejected,” so that didn’t work either.

We need this feature for multi-user publishing, Affinity!

[Gideon S]

50 minutes ago, ubercool said:

I tried what you suggested and it, unfortunately, produced a document in which the text was unselectable, like frozen, at least in Mac Pages. Google Docs produced an error message that read “Server rejected,” so that didn’t work either.

Did you try with Mircrosoft Word? This is where I had success. But if you need compatibility across all word processing programs then I can see your issue. I’m wondering if there is a way to select all text in a Publisher document then paste special (text only, not formatting) into your word processor. For that matter, maybe you can select all text in the pdf and paste from there. I will be researching this as well for my own needs and will post back if I find anything. 

[ubercool]

22 hours ago, Gideon S said:

Did you try with Mircrosoft Word? This is where I had success. But if you need compatibility across all word processing programs then I can see your issue. I’m wondering if there is a way to select all text in a Publisher document then paste special (text only, not formatting) into your word processor. For that matter, maybe you can select all text in the pdf and paste from there. I will be researching this as well for my own needs and will post back if I find anything. 

You can but you lose all hyperlinks and footnotes, and I use both.

[Gideon S]

Yes, exactly what I found...

Another thing to consider is that you can edit PDFs in Acrobat Pro. Probably isn't ideal for what you need though, as it isn't in my case. I am designing a children's Bible study curriculum for churches, etc. and the client wants to have an additional Word/Doc option for people who want to edit the curriculum to fit their needs. Basically, the best way I can figure out how to create this is just to start a Word Doc from the ground up and copy/paste section by section from the PDF which is very undesirable. 

[ubercool]

3 hours ago, Gideon S said:

Yes, exactly what I found...

Another thing to consider is that you can edit PDFs in Acrobat Pro. Probably isn't ideal for what you need though, as it isn't in my case. I am designing a children's Bible study curriculum for churches, etc. and the client wants to have an additional Word/Doc option for people who want to edit the curriculum to fit their needs. Basically, the best way I can figure out how to create this is just to start a Word Doc from the ground up and copy/paste section by section from the PDF which is very undesirable. 

No that’s not a realistic option. Word-formatted files are the file interchange standard. This is keeping me in InDesign, although I just did a book preview in Publisher, and liked it very much, just need to be able to have copy editors access content post-layout. 🤔

[albertkinng]

I use this page for any conversion needed.

https://anyconv.com/

Just in case you need a solution right away.

[walt.farrell]

18 minutes ago, albertkinng said:

Just in case you need a solution right away

Note that the discussion is over a year old, at this point, do "right away" isn't really relevant any more 

And that site doesn't list Affinity files as being handled.

[albertkinng]

@walt.farrell 

It seems that you may not fully grasp the significance of a forum for users. Regardless of the age of a topic, it can provide valuable assistance to individuals seeking answers. That is precisely why forums remain accessible even if they are closed, allowing people to receive help over time.

There's no need to be impolite simply because you perceive an answer as outdated. Furthermore, Affinity is capable of exporting designs in various formats compatible with conversion tools used by other platforms. This makes it convenient to create designs in Affinity, export them as PDF, and convert them into Word documents using this online service.

[ubercool]

I was the one that revived this thread in 2022. I have been waiting patiently for Affinity to grasp the importance of being able to export text in .rtf or .doc format with each new version, but so far, no luck. Exporting in PDF and then using a PDF to Word converter is a hack and produces unreliable results. It is very important to be able to have outside content editors be able to refine existing content. And this is even more critical now that AI writing tools can so vastly improve existing text.

The latest iteration of InDesign exports .rtf files beautifully and super fast. I may well decide to pivot and produce my next book in ID. 🥲

[albertkinng]

1 hour ago, ubercool said:

I was the one that revived this thread in 2022.

Please disregard any disrespectful remarks. You are welcome to revisit any topic and leave comments, regardless of when they were posted. Personally, I have found online converters that can be edited upon export, but I recognize that some individuals may require a more professional solution. I empathize with your frustration and I am also hopeful that Affinity will incorporate those features soon.