What Peter said:

limback wrote:

 

Category name

Category description

Name of person 1

Name of person 2

Name of person 3

Name of person ...

 

This formatting repeats throughout the listing. I need a way to keep the category name, description and at least three individuals together without having to insert a column break. I also need to make sure that at least three individual names stay together if it breaks to another column.

What is supposed to happen when you have four, or five, names and it needs to break? Which column gets the three names? You are going to probably need at least two paragraph styles for the names, one with a keep with next option or a keep with previous option, and one without so that you can control where you want the break to happen. There's really not a way to apply these automatically unless every listing has the same number of paragraphs. It would be simpler, and possible to automate, if you wanted to keep ALL of the lines in a listing together and leave a blank space at the bottom of the column if there was not enough sapce, but I sense this isn't that sort of listing.

So you are saying you want category name, category description, and at least three names to remain at the bottom of a column, or the whole thing should move?

If I have that right you want one style for the category name, with a keep option to keep with next, and a next style that is the category description. The category description style also needs a keep with next, and a next style, which should be name style 1. You need two more name styles, both based on name style 1. Name style 1 has a keep with next optioin and name style 2 as the next style, name style two also has the keep option, but uses name style 3 as the next style, name style 3 has no keep option and sames tyle for next style.

Applying the category name and descriptions styles to category names and descriptions should be self evident, I think. You apply Name style 1 to the first name, name style 2 to the second, and name style 3 to ALL other names in the list. You can apply all of these styles correctly to an entire category by clciking the the category name, then hold the shift key and click inthe last name in the category, selecting all of the paragraphs (or at least part of all the paragraphs) in a category. In the Paragraph Styles panel right click on the Category Name style, then choose Apply Category Name and Next Style, and that block will be styled.

limback wrote:

 

 

Peter - I think that would keep the group at the beginning of the listing, but not at the end. So if I have six names in my list and I have space for four at the bottom of the column, it would leave just two hanging at the top of the next column. I actually would need it to push one extra name to the top of that column too.

Well, see, you weren't clear about that earlier, and that's why I asked about cases of 4 or five names where it would be impossible to have 3 names in both columns.

Sounds like you worked something out, but I can't tell what it is (I don't think Peter G's idea for a table will work if there are enough names that they occupy two columns). A fourth name style could be added that has a keep with previous option, and that style applied to the last three names, but you'd have to do that manually. I think. I don't know a way to automaticall select the last three names in the group.

Graham, I may be misreading the GREP query here, but it looks to me as if it depends on having a blank paragraph between the last name and the next category name. I'm not sure you can rely on that being there, and as a mater of good typesetting it probably shouldn't be. In a case where that blank paragraph ends up at the top of a column it will leave a blank line where there shouldn't be one. In my opinion it's better form to use Space Before on the category names.

That said, IF the blank line already exists in the text, I would day go for it and use it, then run another search to remove empty paragraphs.