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How to link newly created text box to the existing one

Mar 1, 2010 8:49 PM

Hello,

 

Is there a less complicated way to add copy text to existing linked text box in Indesign CS4. I'm currently placing copy at mid-way (e.g., middle of the book) and when I begin to copy/paste onto the existing linked text box, I found myself hitting the return key to shift the copy down thus having to adjust the paragraph layout line by line so I was wondering if I can just create a text box and add it to existing linked text box?

 

Thanks,

Sutagami

 
Replies
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Mar 1, 2010 9:47 PM   in reply to sutagami

    Using the Selection tool, click the out port at the point in the story where you want to add a frame. When you release the mouse button, a loaded text icon appears.

     

    Drag to create a new frame, or select a different text frame. InDesign threads the frame into the series of linked frames containing the story.

     
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    Mar 2, 2010 5:32 AM   in reply to sutagami

    In addition to Paul's good advice, please note that for your own benefit you should stop using Quark terminology and use InDesign terms.

     

    The ID terms you're looking for are threaded text frames.

     

    Unfortunately, even though it's gotten a bit better, it's still difficult to find ID help using those old Quark terms.

     

    Bob

     
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    Mar 2, 2010 6:06 AM   in reply to sutagami

    I may be interpreting this question differently. I see this as a question about how to add text in the middle of a text thread, rather than at the end. If that's the case, the bad news is that you are going to have to continue to paste the text into the position in the existing threaded text that you want it to occupy.

     

    ID can thread a new EMPTY frame into the middle of a an existing thread, and the existing text will flow into and out of the new frame as if it had been there originally. You cannot, however, thread a frame filled with text int the middel of another frame, only onto either end. (Perhaps I shouln't say cannot as an absolute here -- some of the scripters are pretty clever and may have devised a script to automate cutting the text from the new frame, pasting it at the exisiting point where the frame boundary exists, then adding the empty frame to the thread so things flow through it.)

     

    If the problem is that you need more space after adding new text to a thread, take a look at smart text reflow in the help files. This adds behavior similar to that in Quark where new frames are added automatically.

     
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    Mar 2, 2010 6:17 AM   in reply to Peter Spier

    Right. You'd need to break the flow of text. Place the new text and then do all the threading again.

     

    And yeah...I'm sure some industrious scripter could bang that out.

     

    Bob

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 8:14 AM   in reply to Bob Levine

    Hello... So, there's no way to add a text box in the middle of a sequence of boxes?? If I try to do so, it creates a new text box, I can't thread text to an existing one.

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 8:30 AM   in reply to csmarisol2

    Did you follow Paul's instructions in post 1?

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 8:39 AM   in reply to Peter Spier

    I need to add a text box between box 1 and 2, so that box 2 becomes box 3.

    I click on the out port of box 1, then when I click on the in port of a new and empy text box, it kind of "doesn't recognize it", and creates a new box...

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 8:44 AM   in reply to csmarisol2

    Click the outport of frame one, then move the loaded cursor inside frame 2 (it should change to be surrounded by parentheses) and click. It sounds like you are clicking on a guide, which could easily happen if the new frame is snapped to the margins, so ID is ignoring the frame you already drew. That shouldn't happen if you click inside it. Make sure you don't click on any sort of guide.

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 8:53 AM   in reply to Peter Spier

    It doesn't work. The box is in fact aligned to a guide, so I tried moving it, but it's the same!! I layed this proyect for months, I have tried this a thousand times!!

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 10:35 AM   in reply to Peter Spier

    Peter, thanks... I gave up, did some of the work all over again and now I'm done. I don't usually give up easily with inDesign, since I love it! But... sometimes you just have to get the work done the hard way...

     
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    Mar 20, 2012 11:38 AM   in reply to csmarisol2

    Hmm, I'm not sure what happened there. After loading your cursor, you should have been able to hover anywhere over the empty target text box and cllick to add it into the thread. You don't need to select the in port of that box. In fact, when I tried it, you *couldn't* select the in port - no in or out ports were visible with the cursor loaded.

     
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