Export to .rtf and .docx

[peter.malik]

Is it just me, or the export from Mellel to MS Word and RTF formats presents difficulties?

I’m an academic and do all of my writing in Mellel. Unfortunately, just about every publisher requires a docx file, hence every beautifully formatted file replete with OpenType features and such like must be exported into a doc file, which loses a lot (if not most) of its original charm. I’d be OK with this in general, but not when the export results in changes in fonts and things that need extensive manual fixing. Like last time, the export changed (randomly) fonts in the exported files and the words were looked so cramped together that one could hardly see a space between them (couldn’t fix this one in Word, so no idea what’s going on).

Do you have any suggestions?

Many thanks!

Pete

[Amontillado]

Are the styles making it to Word intact? Maybe the wrong styles are being applied.

[peter.malik]

Are the styles making it to Word intact? Maybe the wrong styles are being applied.

Not sure I understand your question. What do you mean by ‘wrong styles’? I’ve got a tightly developed set of styles that I’ve been using for years. The export has never been perfect, but it seems to be getting even worse.

And no, the styles aren’t making it to MS Word in tact, as MS Word treats everything as ‘regular’ with adjustments (adjustments, that is, reflective of Mellel’s styles).

[Amontillado]

By wrong styles, I was wondering if Word was applying the wrong styles. I should have been clearer - I'm pretty sure the average Mellel user makes better use of styles than the average Word user. I didn't mean to doubt you.

I hope you find a solution. When you do, could you please post a synopsis? I'm very curious.

[Icelander]

Is it just me, or [does] the export from Mellel to MS Word and RTF formats presents difficulties?

Don't use RTF. You'll lose all your styles.
Currently .docx seems to be the best export option for Mellel to MS Word.
I just made a quick test with the IEEE template in Mellel which is rich in formatting. All styles were preserved, and footnotes, tables and images were also all correct.

Unfortunately, just about every publisher requires a docx file, hence every beautifully formatted file replete with OpenType features and such like must be exported into a doc file, which loses a lot (if not most) of its original charm

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that OpenType fonts require .doc as a go-between and cannot be exported directly as .docx?

the export changed (randomly) fonts in the exported files

What fonts are you talking about? Let us know so we can make a test.

[peter.malik]

Unfortunately, just about every publisher requires a docx file, hence every beautifully formatted file replete with OpenType features and such like must be exported into a doc file, which loses a lot (if not most) of its original charm

Nope, what I meant was a MS Word file (doc was a typo for docx). Most of these OT features get lost by export. For instance, I use OT small caps rather than the fake ones. MS Word export won’t transfer those. I use OT characters for superscript and subscript, but, again, MS Word file will not have these – instead, they’ll appear as regular letters. Same with reference symbols for footnotes: in Mellel, they’re all superscripted as they should be. In MS Word, they appear as regular/baseline letters.

[peter.malik]

What fonts are you talking about? Let us know so we can make a test.

Brill Typeface, Antinoou for Coptic and SBL BibLit for Greek. I set up Greek as secondary language, using the SBL font for it.

[DavidH]

I can confirm that unlike most special formatting, OpenType features applied to characters in Mellel regularly do go missing in docx export. This happens whether they were applied directly to particular bits of text in the Mellel document or whether they were called for as part of a special character style. It's a nuisance.