Implement Chart- and Diagramfunction
Implement a Chart- and Diagramfunction based on a linked XLS.
Reason:
Technical Data for Products is often managed in XLS and Engineers create all kind of charts and diagramms directly in XLS.
Unfortunately it is not possible to import those XLS-charts in InDesign! There are serveral solutions possible, e.g. via PDF, but these are only "dirty-tricks" and they are all not sustainable at all. In the best case the charts and diagramms look ugly.
While it is possible to link/import XLS-Data, it should be possible to create charts and diagrams directly in InDesign, as Illustrator already does (similar, not nice and smart).
It would be wonderful if this function would be like a "Object-Style" in InDesign.
TechnicalWriter
shared this idea
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Lindsey Thomas Martin
commented
Direct import of charts from Excel (with edit in original) would certainly be useful but now that the engineers working on Illustrator are considering improving or replacing the graphing function in that app., I wouldn't support a graphing function in InDesign.
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Lindsey Thomas Martin
commented
This is very important to me, since each year I place hundreds of charts in the documents I edit. Most of my authors are economists, who also use charts extensively. At the moment, my workflow is Excel > Illustrator > InDesign, but the graphing function in Illustrator is antiquated, inefficient, and unreliable. Please do not try to port or imitate Illustrator's graphing function in ID.
My colleague designs and places images of Excel charts in InDesign but, as noted above, this workflow is inefficient as correxions are frequent and it is difficult to construct a graph in Excel that integrates well with the layout in InDesign.
I would be happy with a plug-in or third-party tool but it would need to run the Adobe type engine and provide the same control of colour and geometry that one has in the CC apps.