Formatting issues with Import from Microsoft Word

[Jon Collins2]

Hi Folks, has anyone found a good work around for leveraging the Import from Word tool for Knowledge Management?

I find that I spend so much time fixing formatting issues with documents that I import as articles, that it's just easier to recreate the content in ServiceNow, as an article, using the WYSIWYG editor. With that said, many of my stakeholders are providing me with Word documents and re-creating all of them is getting quite labor-intense

• Has anyone developed a simplified template or guidelines that minimize re-formatting needs with the MS Word Import?
• How are others handling formatting issues with articles imported from Word? 

Thanks! 

[shannont]

Hi Jon,

We found a few things that may help when using this feature:

• Importing documents to knowledge is available only from a computer browser
• You can import Microsoft Word .doc and .docx files. Note: The file extension must be lowercase
• Ensure the Word document is not in "Compatibility Mode"; if it is, convert the document to the newest file format before importing into SnowCentral or formatting issues may occur

That last bullet is the key.  I hope this helps!

[Kim27 · Accepted solution]

Because the import only works with the standard template, we are not able to use this feature. However, because of the formatting challenges between MS Word and any other tool (not just ServiceNow), our process is as follows:

1. Save all images locally
2. Remove all bullets and numbering
3. Copy and paste the content to notepad to remove any hidden formatting
4. Copy and paste from notepad into ServiceNow
5. Add back the numbering within SN
6. Import the images one by one, adding them into the process in the correct place
   
   (shift+enter to add new row without any bullets/numbers)
   
   
7. Indent and set any subpoints (e.g. a, b, c)

While it seems like a lot of steps, this is still quicker than trying to reformat a copy/paste from Word into ServiceNow. 

Kim

[Jon Collins2]

Thank you, Kim, I think that's about where I am at with this too. 

[Rachel38]

I don't have a solution but I share your pain!