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FM10 Can't generate the TOC with leading dots

Guest
Aug 21, 2011 Aug 21, 2011

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Hi everybody,

I have read some useful threads here about this problem but I still can't seem to be able to resolve this leading dots issue for my TOC.

I have already ensured that the reference page for all of my frame files in my Book have the same Reference page TOC entry. When I generate my TOC the leading dots are missing!

I then open the Reference page for the TOC file as well and paste in the same TOC entries from my other frame files, and then update the book to regenerate the TOC.

This also does not solve the problem.

Any help resolving this issue would be really appreciated!

Here are screen shots of my Reference page for my TOC(below). I have ensured that this same section is present for all of my book's frame files too (in their Reference page sections for TOCs).

ChapterTitleTOC

ChapterTitleTOC.png

Heading1TOC

Heading1TOC.png

Heading2TOC:

Heading2TOC.png

And my generated TOC

Generated TOC.png

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Formatting and numbering

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Beginner , Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

Open in View - reference pages and find all occurances of

<$paratext> <$pagenum>

delete space between tags then press tab once then make sure that you selected view - toolbars - paragraph formatting to see the paragraph panel on your right then cahnge authoring mode to design one so I see there you already have tab stops 5,76 then click it and make sure before that the cursor vertical line is there <$paratext>(there should be an angular sign after you pressed tab)|<$pagenum> so now click your 5,7

...

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Guest
Aug 21, 2011 Aug 21, 2011

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I would also like to highlight that in my generated TOC the style tags are not persisting like they should.

Case in point, the left indentation on this generated TOC is wrong:

GenChapterTitleTOC.png

And same goes for Heading1TOC, where you can see my right indentation and leading dots profile is non existent:

GenHeading1TOC.png

The following Reference Page TOC content has been copied to all other frame file Reference pages:

ReferencePage content.png

If i generate stand alone TOCs for each frame file then the TOC generation works as expected:

standalone.png

But when I create a TOC for my book or update my book i don't see the above formatting or the leading dots.

Help!

Mushhood

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Contributor ,
Aug 22, 2011 Aug 22, 2011

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A couple of things you should check:

  • Do your paragraph formats Heading1TOC (etc.) have a tab setting in them? It is not sufficient to have the tab setting on the reference page; it must be in the format. (Do an “update all”.)
  • It looks to me as if your page set-up for the TOC has margins that would mean your right-hand tab stop is outside the text box. You need to set it at or inside the right margin.

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Guest
Aug 22, 2011 Aug 22, 2011

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Hey David!

Thanks for that tip. I have gone into Customize text frame and expanded the margins for my TOC frame file. That has given me more space on either side. Now when I place my cursor between the TOC entry and the page number and press <tab> on my keyboard the leading dots show up.

We are half way there   Now we need to figure out why don't these leading dots just appear on there own? Here is the screen shot:presstab.png

I generated the above after doing an update to my book. Then I manually press <tab> for the first few lines.

How can I get this TOC to generate the leading dots automatically? I have included the grid lines in the screen shot so you can see that the right tab falls within the page now.

Thanks for that observation. Its helped me get out of half the rut i'm in.

PS: I also went back to the reference page view for the TOC file and ensured that I pressed Update All for each paragraph tag. That also quickly indented each TOC entry in the body page.

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Contributor ,
Aug 22, 2011 Aug 22, 2011

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You need to insert a tab character (i.e. press the TAB key) at the appropriate point in the lines that appear on your reference pages. Then update.

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Guest
Aug 22, 2011 Aug 22, 2011

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Okay I have inserted extra tabs in the Reference Pages for not just the TOC but also the other frame files in my book.TabsInsertedinReferencePage.png

I did an update all for each Reference page instance that i updated. I then updated my book and  my generated TOC still looks like this:

DoubleTabTOC.png

I still have to manually go to each line and press tab to get the leading dots to show up.

Why won't these leading dots just show up?

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Contributor ,
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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I’m puzzled as to what this <PageNumber> is on your reference page. Where did it come from?

Since it’s not a FrameMaker code I’d expect it to show up as exactly that in your TOC, i.e. the word PageNumber between angle brackets. It suggests that for whatever reason there is no link between the reference page and the body pages.

Also, my reference page in a TOC document doesn’t have the words Table of Contents Specification on it. Do you know where that came from?

I’d be tempted to make a new table of contents. Save the one you have as Copy_of_TOC.fm. Then delete it from the book and start again. Don’t bother at first with the paragraph formats, just add the TAB mark in front of the page number on the reference page and see if it is carried over when you generate the TOC.

Bear in mind that it won’t right-align the page numbers at this stage, since no tab has been set in the paragraph. You just need to see if the large bold arrow mark indicating the existence of a tab is there.

If it works to that point you can take it to the next stage and tackle paragraph formats. Importing them from Copy_of_TOC.fm will save some time.

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Guest
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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Before I try any of the above just a quick reply about where I got this frame file from. The TOC file gets generated for frame files that are based on a Frame Template I decided to go with.

These artifacts (The TOC header in the reference page and the PageNumber entity) were already present when I opened the reference page view for the generated TOC.

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Contributor ,
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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Oh, yes, I am being stupid there. The <PageNumber> is a FrameMaker code: it applies the PageNumber character format. Sorry about that.

And I see that the templates have explanatory labels on the reference pages, including Table of Contents Specifications. So that explains that.

If you tell me which template you are using I could try it out this end.

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Guest
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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No worries. I'm a bit new to this whole TOC mess

Here is the template I used for my files:

template being used.png

Also Just to confirm with you -- these elements for the TOC in the reference page -- do they need to be copied to the respective TOC reference sections of my other frame files too? Do these respective sections need to be identical for each frame file in my book (TOC included)?

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Guest
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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Okay so I removed my TOC file and renamed it.

Then I regenerated the TOC and this is what I get right now:

default generated TOC.png

Then I looked into the Reference Page for my TOC frame file and I saw this:defaultreferencePage.png

<PageNumber> is already present there and so is the Table of Contents Specification header. Like I said I think these might be generated due to the fact that my current frame files are based on an existing Frame template I used to create these files.

So I added the tab before the page number in this reference page (circled in red):

b4pagenumber.png

Then saved it and updated my book, but the TOC file didn't change:

b4pagenumberTOC.png

I don't see the tab mark show up in my generated TOC above.

Woe!

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Contributor ,
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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Just wondering how you are making the TOC.

You should not be using the TOC file in the templates (except as a source for formats).

Put all your chapters in a book, then, with the book active on-screen, pick from the horizontal menu Add > Table of Contents. A set-up screen appears. Move Heading1, Heading2 and Heading3 from “Don’t Include” to “Include” (i.e. from the right-hand side of the dialogue box to the left-hand side).

Can you confirm that this is what you are doing?

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Guest
Aug 23, 2011 Aug 23, 2011

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Yes, this is what i'm doing. (Using the Add > Table of Contents feature). I am not using the TOC template at all. Just the Chapter Template as indicated above. And yes I generate the TOC file by moving over three paragraph tags ChapterTitleTOC, Heading1 and Heading2.

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Contributor ,
Aug 24, 2011 Aug 24, 2011

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Well, I found the same template, and it works as expected for me.

I made a TOC and imported the formats from the TOC template. My TOC did not then have leader dots (but the template isn’t designed that way). Adding tab settings to the paragraph formats and a TAB mark on the reference pages, then regenerating produced this.

screenshot1.png

To sum up: as far as TOC formats are concerned you can ignore the other book documents. You need:

  • in the TOC document: paragraph formats (ChapterTitleTOC, Heading1TOC and Heading2TOC) which have right tabs and leader dots defined
  • also in the TOC document: a TAB mark (shown as >) on the reference page before the <$pagenum> code. (To keep the leader dots the same size and style it would be good to put the TAB before the <PageNumber> character format, but that’s an unnecessary refinement at this stage.)

… and then update the book.

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Guest
Aug 24, 2011 Aug 24, 2011

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Can you show me a screenshot of your TOC's reference page?

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Contributor ,
Aug 24, 2011 Aug 24, 2011

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If you check my profile you should see my e-mail address. Send me yours and I’ll mail you the TOC file for you to look at.

I am sure this is something simple that I am wrongly presuming you are doing.

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Guest
Aug 24, 2011 Aug 24, 2011

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I think you haven't enabled your email address to be visible in your profile. I have enabled mine. You should be able to see my email address when you click on my name or in my vcard.

Thanks for looking at this!

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Contributor ,
Aug 25, 2011 Aug 25, 2011

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>>haven't enabled your email address to be visible

Oh, I thought it was.

Never mind. I have e-mailed you the TOC I made.

Unless you are very lucky, you can’t just rename it to match your book and expect it to work. There is a mysterious relationship between FrameMaker books and related generated files.

Either see if you can tell where the difference is between my version and yours, or import all the formats from mine to yours.

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Guest
Aug 25, 2011 Aug 25, 2011

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Recieved your email. I have looked through your file's Reference page and only noticed that you have a leading space before the tab.

leadingspace.png

First I imported the formats from your file to mine. That didn't bring up the leading dots or push the numbers across the right. Then I copied the TOC Reference page entry from your file to mine and that didn't work either.

I think i might be resigned to just typing these leading dots manually (via a single tab insertion for each line of my TOC).

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Contributor ,
Aug 25, 2011 Aug 25, 2011

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The leading space isn’t significant. It’s just that I find sometimes that the dots start a bit too close to the text. A matter of personal preference.

If your document isn’t confidential you could always send it to me. (It would need to be in version 9 format.)

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Explorer ,
Aug 29, 2011 Aug 29, 2011

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I have this happen all the time in FM9.

Do you already have a TOC in your book file with the correct reference pages?

Sometimes I have to do it twice, I don't know why, but if you have a TOC in your

book file and then make another TOC, mine usually works...just a thought..

ls

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Guest
Sep 11, 2012 Sep 11, 2012

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I came across this post while looking for an answer to this exact same problem. It looks like it was never successfully resolved though...

I am also using Framemaker 9, and cannot get the dotted tab leader to display in my TOC, despite having the tab set in the paragraph style and the tab characters on the reference page, and following all the tips here.

I too can insert the tab manually, the tab just does not get carried over automatically into the real TOC.

Can anyone shed any more light on this?

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Guide ,
Sep 11, 2012 Sep 11, 2012

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I have not been following this thread, so maybe this was suggested before.

Check the paragraph style for the TOC entry and make sure that the number of tab stops in the paragraph style is the SAME as the number in the reference page entry.

Having to enter a tab stop manually in the TOC indicates to me that either the tab stop in the paragraph style is too close to the left side OR there is an extra tab stop that is close to the left margin. If this is true, the tab stop created by the TOC reference page is taking its value from the first tab stop in the paragraph style, which may be too close to the left for there to be any space. Adding a tab manually causes the second tab to take its value from the second tab in the paragraph style.

When looking for extra tab stops, use the paragraph style dialog NOT the ruler.

Van

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Guest
Mar 25, 2013 Mar 25, 2013

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Thanks Van!

Unfortunately I can't see any extra tab in the reference view for my TOC file. If you want to inspect my TOC file I would be more than happy to email it to you.

Its really pathetic that its been 2 years since I had this issue and I can't figure out whats causing this.

englishxtra, thanks for the link. I followed those steps but still couldn't make this work.

Mushhood

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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Windows/Mac/UNIX: I couldn’t find an option for adding dot

leaders to my table of contents. Is there a way?

Yes, you can add leaders (dots or other symbols that come between

the TOC entry and its page number), but it’s not very obvious—

as you’ve already discovered. Though it involves editing the

reference page of your table of contents, once you go through the

procedure, it’ll seem fairly straightforward.

sertion point (the cursor) where it is.

4. Choose Designer from the Paragraphs submenu of the Format

menu. In the Paragraph Designer dialog box, choose Basic

from the Properties pop-up menu.

5. Specify the position of your leaders: Select Tab Stops in the upper

right corner, select New Tab Stop, and then click Edit. In the

Alignment section of the Edit Tab Stop dialog box, select Right.

In the New Position text box, enter a number (in whatever

units you’ve specified as display units for the document) for

the position of the page number on the right of the TOC page,

which will determine the length of your leaders. For an 8.5-by-

11-inch document, for example, you might specify 6.5 inches

for your tab position.

In the same dialog box, select one of the predefined leaders

from the Leader section or create a custom leader by selecting

Custom and entering a character. Click Continue.

6. In the Paragraph Designer dialog box, click Update All. A leader

now appears between the <$paratext> and <$pagenum>

building blocks in the reference page. It doesn’t appear on the

body page, however, until you regenerate the TOC in step 8.

7. Repeat steps 1–6 for each line that includes the <$paratext>

and <$pagenum> building blocks.

8. Close the Paragraph Designer window, choose Body Page from

the View menu, and then save the TOC file. Open the book file

for your publication and choose Generate/Update from the

File menu to regenerate the TOC, which will now include the

dot leaders you specified.

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