Task-by-task recipes for everyday work. Installing for the first time? Start with Help → Install, then come back here. Each recipe tells you what to click and what proof to look for in the run log.
The whole manuscript into a single styled InDesign document. Good for a quick look; for real production use the Book flow below.
Open a freshly started InDesign (best practice for full-book runs) and open the Dinno panel. The dot next to the logo should be green — engine connected.
Document → choose the Word .docx exactly as authored. No cleanup needed —
Dinno is built for real, messy documents. Large files upload in chunks automatically.
For a first run leave Split off and press Send & convert — one document, nothing to
choose. For a real book turn Split on: each chapter is saved as its own .indd and
collected into an InDesign Book, which is what gives contents and continuous page numbers.
Hands off InDesign while it runs — the composer needs the app to itself. A full book takes about five
minutes: roughly two of reading and three to six of drawing, which varies with InDesign's own state.
Done leaves the styled document open. In the log look for
DONE ok=… fail=0 and ✓ FONT AUDIT: all fonts installed.
Amber “done” = finished with skipped ops; the log names each one.
This is the recommended way to build the real book: small per-chapter files,
collected into one .indb with book-wide contents and numbering.
Turn Split into chapters ON, keep front matter Combined (or Separate if you prefer one file per front-matter section), pick an output folder, and leave Create InDesign Book (.indb) ON.
Continue uploads and parses only, then lists the exact documents the split will create
(01-…, 02-…). Leave everything checked for the full book and press
Convert N selected.
The Run step shows a per-chapter checklist — pending → converting → saved ✓ — with an overall progress bar. Each chapter is saved to your folder and closed, keeping memory low.
After the last chapter, Dinno assembles the .indb (named after your manuscript),
synchronises styles, repaginates — front matter i, ii, iii…, body 1…N flowing across
chapters — and regenerates the ToC / figure / table lists book-wide.
book: …indb assembled · 18/18 document(s) then
book-toc: pass 2 · 01-… → 3 list(s) book-wide. Open 01-…indd and the Contents
should span every chapter with settled page numbers.Iterating on one chapter? Don't re-run the whole book.
Split ON + your output folder (Book can stay on — it needs at least two documents, so a single-chapter run simply skips it).
On the Chapters step press None, then tick just the chapter you're working on.
~20 seconds later that chapter's .indd is on disk — with the SAME file name and number
it gets in a full split, so later full runs simply overwrite it.
Embedded Word PNGs are screen-resolution — about half the book's figures sit below print quality. The design team's vectors are print-sharp, and Dinno links them automatically when it can find them. This section is the full reference: naming, formats, examples, and how to read the result.
A folder of vector files from the design team, named by figure number (convention below). Subfolders are fine — Dinno scans the whole tree.
Options → Figures folder → choose the repo. Convert as usual — matched figures skip the embedded PNG and place the local vector instead.
The log prints a scorecard plus one line per link. Unmatched figures keep the embedded PNG — nothing ever breaks because a file is missing.
Window → Links lists the placed .ai/.svg files; vectors stay sharp at
any zoom. Every figure frame is stroke-free by default.
Dinno reads the figure number out of the file name with the same pattern it reads out
of the printed caption, then matches on the exact number — never “contains”, so
Fig1.1 can never grab Fig1.10 or Fig11.1.
| Part | Rules |
|---|---|
| Figure number (the only part that must match) | Fig + the number exactly as printed in the caption — chapter, dot, figure,
optional sub-letter. Case-insensitive; ., _ and - are
interchangeable separators (Fig4.1 = Fig4_1 = Fig4-1). |
| Product, language, version | Free-form context. When two files carry the same figure number, Dinno prefers
.ai over other formats, then _EN_ over other languages, then the
highest version. |
| Format (extension) | .ai · .svg · .pdf · .png ·
.jpg — preference in that order (vector first). |
| Caption printed in the book | File that links to it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Figure 4.1 The ITIL Value Chain activities | Design … | ITIL_Product_Fig4.1_EN_v5.1.ai |
The standard case. …_Fig4_1_… and …_Fig4-1_… link identically. |
| Figure 1.1a Key aspects of digital product … | ITIL_Product_Fig1.1a_EN_v5.1.ai |
Sub-letters are part of the number: 1.1a, 1.1b, 1.1c
are three different figures and need three files. |
| Figure D.1 The ITIL Transformation Model … | ITIL_Product_FigD.1_EN_v5.1.ai |
Appendix figures use the appendix letter as the chapter. |
| Figure 1.4 — printed twice (ch. 1 and ch. 2) | ITIL_Product_Fig1.4_EN_v5.1.ai — one file |
A repeated figure links the same file at both placements; the report shows two
linked Fig1.4 lines. |
| Figure 1.10 vs Figure 1.1 | …_Fig1.10_… vs …_Fig1.1_… |
Exact-number matching keeps these apart — no prefix confusion, ever. |
| Callout icons, portraits, cover art | — | Images without a “Figure N.N” caption are not part of linking; they keep the embedded artwork by design. |
| Format | Requirement |
|---|---|
.ai (preferred) |
Must be saved with “Create PDF Compatible File” ticked (Illustrator → Save As → Illustrator Options — it's the first checkbox). InDesign places .ai through its PDF stream; without it the placement fails and Dinno quietly falls back to the embedded PNG — you lose nothing but you also don't get the vector. |
.svg | Placed natively — no special save options. |
.pdf | Placed natively; useful for figures exported from other tools. |
.png / .jpg |
Matched too — handy when the design team ships a high-resolution raster export next to the
vectors (figures/export/). Only used when no vector carries the same number. |
| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
6 file(s), 6 figure key(s) |
What the folder scan found: files seen, figure numbers recognised. Files = 0 → wrong folder;
keys = 0 → the names don't contain a readable Fig… number. |
linked Fig… → file |
One line per placement — the repeated Figure 1.4 correctly appears twice. |
7 linked · 78 embedded |
The scorecard: how many placements took a repo file vs the embedded Word image. |
unmatched keys: … |
Captioned figures with no matching file — your delivery checklist for the design team. Add/rename the files and convert again; nothing else to change. |
| Symptom | Cause & fix |
|---|---|
| File exists but its key is “unmatched” | The number in the name isn't readable (e.g. Figure4-1 without a separator issue is
fine, but Fig4 without the dot-figure part isn't) — rename to
Fig4.1 form. |
| Figure linked, but pixelated in the PDF export | The .ai wasn't PDF-compatible, so the run fell back to the embedded PNG (the report shows it as embedded, not linked). Re-save the .ai with “Create PDF Compatible File”. |
| Wrong artwork on a figure | Two repo files carry the same figure number — check the report's linked … line to
see which one won (preference: .ai → _EN_ → highest version), and remove or renumber the
wrong one. |
| Nothing linked at all | The Figures folder wasn't picked for THIS run (it's per-run, next to Split in Options), or the
scan line reports 0 figure key(s) — see above. |
When the target document already carries the styles you want. Deprecated with the Convert tab: a Word transfer writes into the template open in InDesign, with your styles and your margins.
Open your styled InDesign template document first.
Options → Convert into the open document. Dinno converts into it and respects its preset paragraph styles — the template drives the look, not Dinno's built-ins.
Everything else works the same. If nothing is open, Dinno simply builds a fresh document.
Every run writes a live log to disk (path shown in Settings → Diagnostics) — it survives a crash and it's the first thing to attach to feedback.
| Line | What it tells you |
|---|---|
DONE ok=3927 fail=0 pages=406 |
The run completed; every operation applied. fail>0 = skipped ops, each named above. |
✓ FONT AUDIT: all fonts installed |
No substituted fonts. If faces are listed instead, install them and reconvert. |
figure-links: N linked · M embedded · unmatched: … |
The .ai linking scorecard — unmatched keys name exactly which files to add/rename. |
book: … assembled · 18/18 / book-toc: pass 2 … |
Book built and book-wide contents regenerated with settled folios. |
table-audit: 101 tables · all flush-left |
Layout self-checks passed (tables sit where they should). |
⚠ convert #2 in this InDesign session … |
Repeat full-book runs in one session can stall — restart InDesign for the next full convert. |