htroff wrote:

 

Hello,

 

I am using InDesign CS5 (Version 7.0.0.355) with Windows XP (SP3) and have a problem: There are two or more text variables in one headline. When generating the table of contents, the text variables will be "destroyed" in the table of contents: The second one is "inserted" in the first one instead of the third letter, independent of the kind of text variable (date, userdefined ...).

> Does anybody know this problem? Is there any workaround?

 

Explanation of the screenshot: The top line ist the table of contents, the bottom line ist the headline. "oooooo" ist the first text variable, "OOOOOO" the second one.

 

 

Thanks in advance

Heiko

Text variables cannot wrap around line breaks. While there may be enough space in the document for the variables on one line, the width of the TOC entry line is too narrow to contain the variables. When there's not enough room, the text in variables first tries to compress itself to fit, but at some point it crosses a boundary limit and you get the kind of result you're seeing.

Solutions: [EDIT] widen the TOC lines,[/EDIT] shorten the variables' text content, or use a TOC-entry paragraph style that reduces the width of the text by using a smaller point size, or a font that takes up less horizontal space, or both. Probably reducing word- and letter-spacing won't change anything, because the variables seem to try that on their own, before they cross the limit.

Ooops! still using the unwanted login. I tried to get Adobe to kill this account. Still waiting...

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Yes, please. You can send privately to my real account peter at knowhowpro.

Thanks.

[EDIT] To clarify: I want to have the whole Adobe ID knower account removed, not just the subscription to the forums.[/EDIT]

You night get better service if you send John C a message. Do you need an address?

For what it's worth, I pretty much stopped contributing to this forum when my name changed through some sort of forum software glitch, and my accumulated points went down the drain with the new name!

I was unable to contact anyone who runs the forum. I have limited time, so eventually I just gave up.I mean, it's just points, right?

I think it's pretty shoddy the way the "big boys" sort their problems out for each other by passing private email addresses around, while the little guys can linger on in obscurity.

P Spier wrote:

 

peter at knowhowpro wrote:

 

 

Immediate workaround solution:

 

* Save file

* Save a copy

* In original file, select all text that contains variables and perform Type > Text Variables > Convert Variable to Text

* Generate TOC

* Perform File > Revert to return to original file

 

I think you left out a step. If you don't copy the TOC story to the clipboard so you can paste it in after reverting you'll lose it entirely and have to repeat the process.

Thanks for keeping me honest, Peter S!

I wrote what I tested, but didn't think ahead to someone needing to do actual production with the file<G>. It's a suggestion. I always get confused when it's necessary to create variant versions of a file for different purposes, especially temporary solutions like this one. Which one is the right one to keep in the workflow? Which one is the one to package? What's the best way to manage this workaround in a production workflow; if the variables need to be converted to text for generating the TOC, should they be kept as text, or should the file be reverted, worked on normally, and the convert-to-text operation be repeated whenever the TOC needs to be updated? Should the whole workaround be deferred until time to hand-off to final production?

***** AND EXTRA BONUS WORKAROUND *****

* Create the required text variables as individual paragraphs with a unique paragraph style

* Create a cross-reference format that captures the unique paragraph-styled text only.

* Store these source text items anywhere - pasteboard, hidden layer, etc.

* Insert cross-references to these source text items wherever you'd need multiple text variables that will be extracted to TOCs.

* Copy an inserted cross-reference to the clipboard.

* Use Find/Replace to find instances of the corresponding text variable and replace with the option that pastes text from the clipboard.

## Because Find can't find a specific text variable, consider converting all variables to text, then find the text and replace all instances from the clipboard. Caution: If the text variable's text also appears in normal text, find/replace all might cause reflow and other problems. It might be useful to create an invisible character style and find all text variables, replace with the character style, then replace all variables with text, then find all instances of text that had been in one variable that also has the character style, and replace that with the corresponding cross-reference, then repeat for the others.

Note that I may have overlooked mentioning some intermediate steps here. After all, it's a FREE extra bonus<G>.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Hi Peter,

That's very decent of you -- as long as it is really your responsibility.

It seems to me that ideally, if a recognized technical problem arises, it should be easy to contact a technician whose official job is to fix that sort of thing. I'm a bit uneasy with the idea of contacting someone in a private message, to get them to contact someone else "further in". It has a whiff of "contraband" about it -- like arranging to get some Cuban cigars or beluga caviar or something!

All the same, I'll send the private message -- with many thanks -- Jeremy

I found this discussion when researching the same issue in InDesign 5.5 so I can report that the bug still remains in that version. My testing shows that referencing text with a single text variable works fine in a table of contents but anything with multiple variables gets jumbled. In addition, in my case where I'm using three text variables it also mixes in the page number and the title generated by the table of contents style.

Does anyone know if it's been fixed in version 6?