Typesetting Math in InDesign
Maryanne wrote:
The geologists here produce their drafts in Word, and then I import the text into InDesign to do the final formatting. Some of them do mathematical equations using Word’s Equation Editor, and when I import their document into InDesign some of the characters do not come over properly.
Sigh. Yes. Everyone who typesets math wants there to be a seamless integration between Microsoft Word and InDesign. It would make life so much easier! But alas, I don’t think there are any easy solutions here. In fact, typesetting math often seems just as hard as doing the equations themselves. I’m going to throw out a few ideas, and then open the floor to see how other people have solved this problem.
First of all, the fact that Word’s equations import into InDesign at all amazes and terrifies me. I don’t do this, so I don’t know what kind of embedded object appears. But I have to say that I wouldn’t trust it for final high-quality printing.
In general, there tend to be two good ways to do math in InDesign, and both have their pros and cons.
Import As Graphic
First, you can save each equation as a separate image/picture and import it (using File > Place, like any other graphic) in InDesign. This is tedious and the management is tough, but it tends to work.
This is how we did the equations in my book, The Joy of Pi (using Design Science’s MathType to create the graphics, if I recall). The most annoying part of that whole project was finding out that the font changed in the book and realizing there was no way I was going to stay sane if I had to re-export all those equations. (I didn’t do the layout of that book; that was done by Maura Fadden Rosenthal. I just did the content.)
Create In InDesign
The second way to do it is to use an InDesign plug-in and do the math right on your page. The most popular plug-in for this is InMath, from ITIP. [InMath has been rebuilt from the ground up and is now called MathTools.] (Random note: They will be presenting two half-day seminars about typesetting math in InDesign at the Miami InDesign Conference in late February of this year.)
InMath is a very impressive and it’s awesome that it can typeset all that stuff right on the page (using paragraph styles, character styles, etc.), but (and I could be wrong here) I don’t think it imports equations from Word or any other system.
So what do you, the reader, use? Any clever ways to export as TeX and convert to something InDesign can import? What about methods for extracting Word’s equations and turning them into editable objects in InDesign?
Inquiring minds want to know!
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Well, If you’re a Mac User, you’ve already got a fairly serviceable freebee in your Utilities folder. Look for Grapher. Obviously, it suppose to be used for graphing functions, but it does typeset a pretty good range of math functions (the layout can be modified to suit your own tastes) and the resulting equation can be copied to the clipboard as a PDF (so can the graphed function).
It’s not without it’s bugs and flaws, but it is serviceable (it can even do integration, differentiation, find roots, intersects, etc.). You can’t beat free.
The Mathtype word plugin by Design Science, has a standalone version that exports to wmf but retaining the ability to edit. This way I can place in InDesign, but still edit the placed equation afterwards when necessary. Usually I typset all the equations again myself, as this way a configure fonts to match my copy and, as most authors don’t take the time to learn how to properly use the plugin, they are usually a mess anyway. Strangely I can’t manage to copy from word and paste in mathtype.
I had to sleep on this one, and now that I have I agree with what blass has said. I would retype all the equations right into InDesign.
I would put this down to a two-person operation. One to set the book and the other to go through the book and find all the equations and set them. I had to do this for a book last year that every second page contained a table. All the tables contained different sizes, columns and rows. And setting tables is time consuming. So I put one person on working on the book and the other on the tables, I took the task of the tables, as I felt this was the hardest part.
I printed out the word file and went page to page looking at the tables and setting them. At the end of the project, the book and all the tables were finished at the same time, and it was a simple copy and paste from InDesign to InDesign to fill out the project.
If I hadn’t have had someone to do the project with me I would have looked at outsourcing it so that at least one person worked on and dealt with the tables.
I know equations are a different kettle of fish, but both tables and equations are time consuming and I feel having a wingperson allows for full concentration on two very important aspects.
I don’t have much experience with equations, any that I have had to deal with I have set by hand in Quark/InDesign and I have never had the need to convert from MS Word to InDesign, or use a plug in for setting math type.
MathMagic Pro Edition for InDesign could be a solution, when Writing/Editing any simple/complex equations with the printing quality in mind.
Also, they have a separate converter for MathType/MS Equation Editor equations, and another converter for MathML.
Another workaround is, when you insert equations in MS Word, you may insert the equations as EPS file instead of OLE objects so that InDesign importer can handle the equations without losing the quality. Although this may take more time in MS Word side, if you have InDesign in mind as a destination, this will save you more time after all.
Anyway, it is worth trying the Free MathMagic Pro trial version, if you are to face with equations and many scientific symbols.
If you’re just typesetting a few equations, it might be worth gritting your teeth and using a combination of Mathematical Pi, Symbol, tabs and baseline shift. Not for the faint of heart, but if you know your stuff and already have the fonts, it might be just as easy when you factor in the learning curve of plug-ins sophisticated enough to do the job professionally. Just sayin’…
PvQ: Thank you for mentioning MathMagic. I knew about this plug-in, but I did not know it had been updated (I thought it was only for CS or CS2). The Web site looks like it is now for CS3. I am curious about it.
If I were to run into this situation, I’d print the Word file to PDF, then I’d convert the PDF to paths with PitStop Pro. Then I’d either import the PDF directly into ID or extract the equations with Illustrator and save them out as separate files.
Thanks David for posting my question in your comments area and to everybody who has replied with suggestions. Currently what I have been doing is saving the equations out as suggested as seperate PDF’s and then pasting them into the text and although slow and a bit tricky to get the lines lined up sometimes, it works well. I will have a look at the MathMagic Pro site as well to see if that might work better for the reports that have many equations in them. Thanks everybody for your input. Much appreciated.
I had to do this recently, and found by buying PopChar, I could access all the symbols directly without much hassle. Copy/paste where I needed. But that was only for a dozen or so lines.
MathMonarch/PowerMath anyone?
PowerMath is a standalone application with a plugin for CS2. It can typeset professional quality math and it has numerous features. For just a few equations probably not worth it though.
MathMonarch, which was created by WestWords, has the ability to export MathType equations to a WWDOC format that can be imported via the PowerMath plugin to very nicely formatted math. This leaves the math editable at any time as long as the plugin is active.
Please note that both of these have a learning curve that would probably be prohibitive unless you were constantly setting math.
Hi, this is Rudi from i.t.i.p., the distributors of the InMath plug-in for InCopy and InDesign.
I’m definitely aware of the fact that the equation import from MS-Word to InDesign/InCopy is one of the most needed but also most challenging issues.
Me personally, I try to encourage authors to write simple equations as plain text in MS-Word, for example “1/2” or “R2” (instead of the square root of 2). After having imported the text into InCopy/InDesign, I can create a fraction with one click using the InMath Expression Wizard.
For more complex equations, there is in fact only the choice between importing equation as graphics or re-keying in InDesign/InCopy with InMath.
when you copy a matter from word and paste into ID, before it you will have to active a commond that is below
please press : Crl+k —- Preferences —- clipboard handling —– all information (index, markers,swatches, style etc.) active
then paste, your problem would be solve
For Rudi.
Does InMath import only 1 equation, or portion thereof, at a time or can I import a complete 70 page document that has hundreds of equations?
PowerMath has this capability. When things are coded correctly, a complete document, hundreds of equations, can have its math built with just a few clicks.
Correct me if I am wrong, but if I wanted to built a complex fraction in InMath that had simple fractions in it numerator and denominator, I would have to build the simple fracs first then build the complex in a different step, correct?
I’m glad to hear that Maryanne got ideas how to improve her workflow – I think that everything is better than importing equations one by one as PDF.
But let me just throw in a few more thoughts, explicitely asking for your opinion/feedback:
1. Is Word always the right tool to typeset text with equations? If you need to place your text into InDesign on a regular basis, you should consider replacing Word by Adobe’s InCopy. In the US, it is rather cheap, and you can use InMath for the equations. Which means: you eliminate any conversion issues completely, because the way InCopy-InDesign back and forth works perfectly, also with InMath equations.
2. In principle, you can transfer equations as a) graphics, b) text.
a) is possible without additional software; however, you’ll loose the capability to make changes in them.
If you want to preserve the capability to make changes, it is possible with additional software; however, you still have lots of graphics in your document, and you need external software to make the changes. Moreover, if you change e.g. the font size in InDesign, the equations don’t adapt themselves. And you have to accept a lot of restrictions regarding fonts and the equations’ appearance.
b) requires, in a first step, coding the equations as text in or from Word and after importing this text into InDesign, in a second step re-coding and depicting as an equation. That’s the theory, and it sounds nice. However, from my perception, there is no tool converting the Word equations into somthing that could be interpreted reliably and sensefully – for example MathML in content (!) markup. Content markup is crucial here in order to keep the mathematical sense.
In fact, there are a few proprietary solutions in the market – Andrew described his solution above.
3. After all: It seems to me that there is no perfect way to bring equations from Word to InDesign, from a productional point of view, but good solutions for different scenarios.
Any comments or objections are highly appreciated!
A comment for Rudi.
Yes, the biggest problem in converting math from one form/application to another is a conversion filter. The bigger problem is that not everyone creates equations in the same fashion.
I am willing to bet that in InMath I could create the same equation multiple ways. So that even if there was an export filter for InMath to say MathML your export codes, my export codes, and another persons’ export codes for the same equation may not be the same even if the equations looked the same on printout.
A way to get around this would be the use of a consistent language and consistently keyed math. WWDOC was a coding language created for this purpose and can be read from and exported to ascii text by PowerMath and the ascii text can be imported via MathMonarch to Math Type.
But again only as long as those using it key/use it in a consistent fashion, otherwise all bets are off.
Hi Rudi, a quick reply to your comments. I agree that Word may not be the proper tool to be using but as I work for government that is what we get. I had looked into InCopy and suggested it for a better work flow after hearing about it at the InDesign conference in Seattle and on this web site, but that is as far as it made it.
Yes, when importing the equations as a pdf/graphic you have to fiddle with the size to get the proper spacing in the text and if the author changes anything in the report, then the body has to really be checked to make sure
that the graphics are still properly inserted. So overall it really slows down the production side.
I tried using Math Type, but found that characters did not always translate over properly. Maybe I just wasn’t using it correctly being a newbie to it. Also as I had to type it there and then transfer it over, for some of the smaller equations that are single lines, I just started to type them directly into InDesign using the Character Map and hope that it works properly but again for production flow the author needs to really check that the formula does not have any typos.
Alas, the best scenario would be to have an import function in InDesign that works as well as the other Word import qualities it has now. Maybe an update or CS4?
We work with a lot of complex math and find it better to convert all equations to EPS directly from the word file itself.
Although recently, we have faced a situation where we get MathMl embedded in an XML file(our only source), and this gets to be a huge issue. Any suggestions anyone?
I can only recommend latexit!! If you have a Mac go and install a latex system + latexit, best and fastest way to produce nice vector formulas for all kinds of programs!
latexit
Mactex, complete package
Can someone tell me if automation can be done on InMath? To explain, let us say we have equations in one format such as TeX that need to be inserted as InMath into InDesign. Does InMath allow insertion of math using scripts….js, .as etc?
We have large math data available in word and these have to be converted to InDesign. It is huge task keying each of these complex equations into InDesign using InMath. Can someone throw light on this? Thanks!!
Hi
How do i work with incopy. I have one project where editor is also involved with me and i do not want to split the file.
The MathType to EPS to InDesign solution works well in theory for organizations where authors are working in MS Word. With MathType installed you can easily convert all native MS Word equations to MathType and then export them en masse as EPS or WMF from Word. It’s also possible to change font settings globally when exporting the EPS files, which can be very handy if the original fonts don’t match those of the text in InDesign. If you’re handy with scripting you can even create a script to place the exported EPS files back into the proper locations in your InDesign layout. Also the addition of the “Edit with” capability in CS4 means that the placed EPS equations can be easily edited in MathType after they’ve been imported (very cool!).
However, there are numerous opportunities for error in this process, mostly as a result of font issues. For example, MathType likes to use Symbol Italic for lower case Greek variables. Is creates a pseudo-font when doing this and InDesign won’t correctly display or print this font in imported EPS files. The solution would seem to be installing Symbol Italic but that is not a font you’re likely to obtain easily. Other math characters may also present problems and we often wrestle with the EPS and WMF files trying to find the “magic” combination of fonts and settings that will work. Very frustrating. Another option is to export GIF out of MathType but this is limited to 1000 ppi which is not enough to support quality offset printing (sigh). So MathType would appear to be a good solution for those who are limited to MS Word authoring environments but there are issues that need to be addressed regarding fonts.
On another note, I’ve tried MathMagic and found it to be buggy but that was with IDCS2. Could be better with CS4.
instlling Mathtype Software in the word 2007 or 2003 then typing this formula and copy then paste in indeisgn .
Past Vector file .
another vote for latexit [mac only]
Main features of LaTeXiT are : generated PDFs can be reopened (even with copy/paste) to be modified
– LinkBack support
– syntax colouring and auto-completion of LaTeX keywords
– smart LaTeX errors manager
– LaTeX palettes
– automatic history and library management
– included application service
– Automator support
– several export formats (PDF, EPS, TIFF, PNG?)
https://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/math_science/latexit.html
To All,
We have use in Powermath in Quark 4.1. OS 9.
My problem how to active in my system powermath dongle, we have dongle orginal.
Any idea active any application there, any one know regarding this issue, kindly send my email id.
@Regan: Hm, it sounds like you’re using PowerMath for QuarkXPress, right? Perhaps try a QX site, such as https://planetquark.com/
MathType -> EPS -> InDesign can be a typical approach.
Having this said,
MathMagic offers direct inserting of equation in your InDesign document, without manually exporting equation in EPS and placing the file in your InD doc.
And just double-click on any equation to re-edit it.
This saves you great amount of time if you have to deal with lots of equations.
MathMagic equations are inserted in EPS format, and it can be either linked or embeded by your choice from Preferences dialog.
The most important difference would be the automatic baseline alignment when inserted in a text box as anInline graphic object.
MathMagic automatically align the equation’s baseline to the text line.
If you are familiar with LaTeX or Plain TeX, or if you receive LaTex equation, you can type TeX or paste TeX directly into MathMagic window to convert it to equation on the fly.
MathMagic reads MathML and MathType equations as well.
MathType > EPS > Indesign CS4 has issues whenever a sub/superscript is used in the equation. According to a techie at Design Science, the MathType’s creators, it has something to do with the code used in MathType to change font sizes that is not recognized by InD CS4…causes the equation to fail to print to PS printers, you get a “makefont” error…….has anyone else seen this? Hoping for a feasible Work Around
Script system MT-Script for Adobe InDesign CS4
https://creativepro.com/forum/indesign-add-ons-scripts-scripting-and-plug-ins/free-script-for-using-mathtype-equation-with-indesign-6-cs4
Nick, Thanks for the link. However, that script is a Windows script and I’m running a Mac with CS4 and Office 2004…..
There is a process to extract entire Msword equation in one command by using preference command and save all the equation as *.wmf format. Is any one can explain the procedure who to work? Thanks in advance.
If I need to use images from a word doc, I hit save as web page (in word) and that makes a folder that saves the images in 2 forms: thumbnail and “original”. It does so with the equations, only it saves them as wmz files (the “originals”, the ones you are interested in). You open them with winrar, extract them, and rename them by adding the wmf extension. You can find tools to do everything I said fast…
On the other hand… I find that word equations editor suits my needs… And if I need to take them to indesign… copy and paste works… It will use rich black (that is a drawback…) but there are ways to work around that. You have to check a few checkboxes in the preferences (prefer pdf when pasting), but it does retain the baseline shift it needs.
Word is scriptable and you can use that to change the font in all equations. (If you change it in one, the other you just have to open, not to declare again the changes. That opening part can easily be done by a total beginner scripter..
I just tried it and it uses embeded eps files… That you can unembed (meaning another way to export word equations… :)) and also you can edit them so they wont use rich black. Another thing I tried: it seems they keep unique names – so if you paste the same equation twice… it will be the same file.
The third way to get to the equations from a word file: when you open the word file, the equations will appear in the user name – local settings – temp folder as wmf files…
That’s my way of working with what I have… Mathtype… I dont like it because I want equations to be editable in ID. Otherwise… why should I change from MS equations to mathtype? And the eps format… I always had trouble accepting it… I will give it a try to mathmagic and the other one…
Yes, we all hate ms word but as long as I have clients bringing me a word document… I have to work with that too.
There are several ways to extract all equations from MS Word doc.
If you have MathType installed, it offers an option to save equations as external files. But you should run MS Word and open each doc to run the command.
Or, MathMagic (Personal Edition or Pro Edition) comes with a Batch conversion option. (File -> Convert menu)
MathMagic can read multiple .doc and .docx files (or whole folder) and extract equations as external file. It allows you to select an extracted file format from the list: EPS, MathML, LaTeX, PICT, BMP, GIF, PNG, …
So, when you need to import MS Word doc with many equations into InDesign, if you batch convert MS Word equatoins into EPS and place them(although placing on the original spot is not automated) in EPS, you will get the best result. MathMagic converted EPS is re-editable by double-clicking if MathMagic plug-in is installed although MathMagic plug-in is not required.
Both work with equations saved in MS Equation 3.0 or MathType/MathMagic equations.
However none of these works with MS Word’s new linear math format at the moment.
They offer trial versions:
http://www.dessci.com
http://www.mathmagic.com
hi, is there any way, that we type a formula in indesign dirctly same as TEX? you can do any thing that you want in indesigne except type formula.. its so bad.
atn: if you read the story and follow-up posts above, you’ll find the names of a handful of commercial plugins. I don’t think any one of them allows you to enter TeX syntax, but surely following the links and reading their web pages won’t hurt.
Anyone know of a script or plugin for InDesign CS4 that makes aligning multiple lines of an equation easier and faster without using tabs all over the place?
A client has supplied MSword documents for a journal which includes masses of equations and formulae. When I loaded the first two documents into Indesign (CS4), the Maths items came through as eps files and had to be resized. Tedious but workable. When I loaded the third paper, every equation/formula has come through as: \s \* MERGEFORMAT although they show correctly in Word. I tried converting what I have in Word to MathsType equations to match the first two docs but no luck with that.
I can set the easy ones and convert the complicated items to eps format but can anyone explain the logic of what is happening, so that I can brief my client for future ref?
@Maryanne You can insert characters in MathType. It’s under Edit > Insert Symbol. From there you can insert a symbol/character that doesn’t appear correctly with one of a different font.
@Camille I use MathType for this. There I can align at the decimal, equal sign, left, right, or center. You could use the “align to here feature” for some of the tabs.
Hi all!
Just wanted to let you know that we’re about to release MathType import for InDesign CS4 and CS5.
It takes the equations embedded in the Word document and turns them into editable InMath equations.
Dear All
Thanks very much for the feedback — I will have to experiment to see what works best. This job only comes up once a year so maybe next time I can use MathsType for this.
If this helps anybody:
It seems that a viable equation cannot be copied from one Word document into another and remain viable. Even if it was created in Word and is still editable, once you paste it into another Word document, it gets converted to a generic graphic and is no longer considered by Word to be an equation. At that point, MathType will also not recognize it as an equation. And at that point, attempts to copy it and paste it into Illustrator are usually frought with frustration. The only way to get it into another Word doc is to insert it as an object (text from file). That explains why so many of the equations supplied to me by contributing authors have been so problematic. If you can get your authors to provide their original equation files alongside their master documents, you’ll have much better luck. Once I started doing that, MathType has performed flawlessly.
How does typesetting Math in InDesign work with an eBook format? I understand that a PDF would be fine, but going to something like XML seems like it would present a problem.
@Katie: It’s a huge problem! One option is MathML, which EPUB3 will (support) support. Unfortunately, EPUB3 is just an unreleased spec at this point, so it’ll take some time to get out into actual epub readers.
My company uses the InDesign/InCopy (CS5) workflow with K4. We currently follow the eps>indesign workflow in CS5 which is not ideal for our users who need to edit the equations.
I’ve just been made aware that there’s a German company called movemen that has developed a CS5-compatible plugin called Equation Editor (mt.editor). I believe it’s part of a new product family called Math Tools. The company also worked on InMath for InDesign/InCopy CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4. They claim to be able to translate MT equations into Adobe-readable equations.
hie, i am looking for InMath? where can i purchase a copy since i use Adobe Indesign CS5? i am desperate.
@maxwell: See the link to movemen in Jeff J’s comment above yours. Or check out other options, such as MathMagic Pro (links above).
You can also use MathType with a plugin called MT-Script. It seems a little hairier but so far is working OK for me, and total cost is much less. I had some trouble getting the plugin installed, so have some instructions up at https://www.ipv6forthemasses.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=6 if it’s any help.
There is a great blog, detailed information, without copies, and no repeating – simply GREAT! It’s wonderful to see something different! You may be sure I’ll be your regular guest…
I create Government-approved Mathematical textbooks for the educational sector in South Africa. To this end, I purchased inMath years ago, for Indesign CS2, and it became an indispensable tool in my plug-in collection. When I upgraded to Indesign CS5, I was forced to switch over to MathMagic, much to my dismay. It’s feature-rich, yet slow and rather restrictive (try doing a global text-size change, or even a font-change. Do the fractions and equations follow suit? Do they hell!) Inmath was perfect for this. The fonts within the equations updated perfectly, the baselines shifted accordingly, and you could do a global or partial refresh at any time. Downside? It’s rather expensive. It seems the devs have taken quite some time to get it up to CS5 compatibility too, which worries me a bit. I’m not going to fork out that kind of buffalo for an alpha-stage plug-in. Has anybody on this site tested the CS5 version? Anybody at all? I have yet to chat to someone who has even seen it in action…
@Jimmy: There is no doubt that movemen and InMath was pretty quiet for most of 2011, but it looks like things are really starting to pick up again there in good ways. I just noticed they do have the upgrade pricing and an online shop set up: https://movemen.com/softwarePricing
Hello folks:
My name is David Cohen and I am with movemen GmbH. There has been a lot rumors and misinformation lately how InMath® licensed customers can purchase upgrades for InMath® for use with Adobe InDesign and InCopy CS4, CS5 and CS5.5. On behalf of all my colleagues at movemen, we apologize for remaining rather silent through the beginning of 2011 while we prepared for some major changes?as you can see from our newly updated website:
? https://movemen.com/
At the end of December 2010, movemen GmbH and i.t.i.p. GmbH (the reseller of InMath®) severed their business relationship. movemen?the software developer for InMath®?brought the technology (code) back in-house. We rebranded the equation editor as mt.editor 1.0 for use with CS4, CS5 and CS5.5. Here’s a link to our mt.editor 1.0 product page (there?s a quick link for Software pricing on the movemen homepage):
? https://movemen.com/products/details/mt.editor/
In addition, movemen is launching the Math Tools platform. Our newest product, mt.importer (to be released in Q4 2011) properly imports and converts MS Word documents containing MathType equations into native, editable mt.editor equations.
? https://movemen.com/products/details/mt.importer/
Lastly, we are extending invitations to all interested InMath® customers to attend one of 3 web-hosted meetings. If you would like to receive an invitation to learn more about our company, our technology roadmap and our desire to learn more about you and your business, please send me an [email protected] and state which meeting you wish to attend. The meetings will be on these dates/times:
? Thursday September 22nd, 2011 @ 9 AM PDT?Noon EDT?18:00 CET
? Tuesday September 27th, 2011 @ 7:30 AM PDT?10:30 AM EDT?16:30 CET
? Thursday September 29th, 2011 @ 9 AM PDT?Noon EDT?18:00 CET
Note: We will record the meeting and post it online after the September 29th meeting has concluded
In closing, if you have any questions you would like to address offline, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]
Thanks,
David Cohen
movemen GmbH
Hi David
Glad to hear movemen are still amongst the inDesign caste! I’m looking forward to the mt.importer release, as I’m knee-deep in equation hell. If the importer does everything it promises, my company will be onboard faster than you can say: “Placing equations as EPS files? you must be joking…”
Cheers!
Hi Jimmy, can you please e-mail me and I will make sure you are invited to one of the upcoming meetings.
Thanks,
Well, I’m using mathtype in both softs, ID & Word.
All the equations works well importing in ID.
Greetings.
In addition, I’m working actually in mathmagic, that’s the better way I found to work within ID and with math expressions.
Even mathype that comes from within word files can be pasted in mathmagic windows, who makes the work more easier.
Greetings
hello, my name is Jonathan and I wanna get in touch with you about InDesign
kindly reply asap
I am working in epublishing company. The customer worked in Quark Xpress powermath superset. Now they requested us to change Indesign CS5 Platform. So we unable to load that superscript for Indesing powermath. Can you please anyone to help me?
How to Mathtype equation PASTE TO INDESIGN DIRECTLY
(in size are paste same attributes)
Hi, i use InDesign CS5, and Mathmagic 7.03. I need create autonumbering equations, how do it??
Thanks.
I have a Maths document in Word and wish to arrange it in either InDesign or QuarkExpress or CorelDraw. The copy and paste function is not applying for the equations. Can somebody help me?
Hi All,
Our customer had sent an Indesign CS4 file which had used PowerMath version. We need to export the indesign file to word with math equations and then create math ml out of it.
But while we open the file all the Math equations are showing as grey boxes without equations. Also we are getting powermath version error 2435 something, says the equations have used different version.
Can we try opening the file in CS5?
or
Is it something to do with Power Math plugin upgrade? Ideally the latest version should open the previous versions right? But we are getting the error message, i am deep trouble to get this indesign file to exported to word with Math. Is there possibility, please guide?
Tks
Komastas
If you have TeX installed on a mac a service is added to the file menu which lets you convert embedded TeX code into an inline graphic – plus the process is reversible!
@Tim Sheasby: How is this? Please elaborate on your comment. And is it also possible on a PC? Thank you.
Thank you for some ideas to try working with fractions in inDesign! :)
I am in a quandry (beside myself) searching for a good equation editor to use in inDesign. At least I can make a little headway using Mathtype and eps files for some things in inDesign when I have the need for math fractions with a horizontal bar (working with elementary math equations) for several math books.
It would be even nicer to get an equation editor that would work within inDesign. Just sayin….
Dianne: The two great tools that work inside of InDesign are movemen MathTools (which works as an editor directly inside InDesign) and
MathMagic (which is an external editor, but integrates with InDesign really well).
plz help somebody : when i paste math equation between text in ID Cs5, it is not become in alignment.
as : when any equation paste in page maker and it become paste in the centre of text , like it i want to align same in ID Cs5
@kalid: I don’t know how PageMaker did it, but where are you pasting from? If it is appearing as an inline object, then I would suggest making an object style (in the Object Styles panel) and applying that style to the inline object. Then you can change the object style to the correct position.
Hi How to insert double digit roots (i.e., 10th, 11th, 12th root of…etc)using power math dongle in indesign cs6. Please help me
I need mathmagic xtension for quark 4. it is not avaibale in the net. how do i proceed.
Uff… I buy Indesign… and now spend more money for equation :( too bad
Hi,
I have a Indesign document which contains InMath (MT Editor) equations. Is there any way to convert it as MathType equations or PowerMath ASCII? Please advice.
Sorry, not that I know of. InMath uses InDesign type formatting, PowerMath/MathType equations are discrete objects like placed graphics that you need the plug-in to edit.
Hi,
I’m curious about the best program to use for creating coordinate planes, dot plots, congruent shapes, etc., which might then be embedded in InDesign? Is there a standard program (such as Illustrator but for math) that top math textbook publishing companies use? Thanks for any feedback!
Hi all,
this might be old news, obvious or otherwise not useful, but i’ll take you through my way of utilizing LaTeX as a math typesetting tool for InDesign.
First a local TeX compiler is needed, then i create a folder in my working InDesign-folder called TeX/equations etc. I then make a new tex-document with this
\documentclass[]{standalone}
\begin{document}
%
\Large{
$ your math $}
%
\end{document}
Compile and insert the .pdf file as a ‘figure’ in InDesign. By doing it this way it is possible to then change the equation in the LaTeX-editor, compile and then only an update of the figure-link in InDesign is needed.
Pros:
No white-space in equation
Fast update of equations
LaTeX-math looks good
Cons:
No in-LaTeX line-shift found to work in this mode
End up with a lot of .tex files
Thanks, this works perfectly for me as long as I don’t have too many equations. I use the [preview] option to the standalone class which allows me to use the LaTeX align environment.
Came across this site, https://www.codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php, while trying to find a way to create math equations since I’m not TeX savvy. The site allows you to create your math equation then export it into multiple graphic formats.
Pros:
Free!
Easily download your equation into different file formats.
Includes a way to copy the HTML and embed it into your site, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Cons:
It’s not very intuitive and a little tough trying to decipher the icons if you’re not a Math wiz (I’m not!)
Equations do not have spaces. However, you can to edit an SVG file in Illustrator if you want to add spaces.
I admit, it’s not the best out there, but it does the job.
The Arial Unicode font includes glyphs with a wide variety of uses, including simple math expressions incorporating things like radicals, integrals, and summations. I use this font in every text processing app I have, except unfortunately, InDesign and Illustrator, where for whatever reason, it’s not available.
My workaround is to create the expression in Photoshop, rasterize it, and place it into InDesign.
Sometimes LaTex on the Mac, particularly if you are using a Text User’s Group (www.tug.org) distribution (2017 running MacOS Sierra) may not like the “standalone” option mentioned above. Here is a way to get it to work:
%
\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage[paperwidth=2.25in, paperheight=.6in,top=0in,bottom=0in,left=0in,right=0in]{geometry}
\voffset=-.1in
\usepackage{amsmath}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\[
% you can insert your equation here. Sample equation on the next line below:
m_i \frac{d^2\mathbf{q}_i}{dt^2} = \sum_{j=1,j \ne i}^N \frac{G m_i m_j (\mathbf{q}_j – \mathbf{q}_i)}{\left\| \mathbf{q}_j – \mathbf{q}_i\right\|^3}
%
\]
\end{document}
Of course, you will have to change the paperwidth and paperheight dimensions depending on your equation, and you may have to adjust the voffset a little bit. This is so we don’t get a default 8½ by 11 page and have to crop it in InDesign.
Run this through pdflatex to generate a PDF file that can easily be imported into InDesign, e.g.
$ pdflatex .tex
which will leave you with .pdf
That should do the trick.
Oops.
That should be
$ pdflatex file.tex
which should give you file.pdf