Multiple TOCs flowing one after the other

[JustyR]

Hi,

I'm looking to generate a table of contents for a list of advertisers within a brochure.

There are five different categories of advertiser. Each type can appear on any number of pages, depending upon who the advertiser is. The categories are not specific to any set number of pages (unlike a section header would be).

Also, the TOC appears in a set order, as below:

Services

advertiser name......2

advertiser name......7

Retail

advertiser name.....3

advertiser name.....6

Out & About

advertiser name.....19

Education/Childcare

advertiser name.....14

advertiser name.....22

Health/Lifestyle

advertiser name.....9

advertiser name.....42

Now, I've been able to create five separate TOC styles, with the Title of each one being the category. However, that requires five separate text frames – a TOC for each category/heading.

I could stop there and be done, but I wonder if there's a way to do the above in one text frame?

Can anyone offer some pointers?

[Barb Binder]

The only other idea I have is to create this as an index instead of a table of contents. You can control the sort order, and can make the section headings both tiny and white so as to be invisible. Services, Retail, etc as Topic Level 1s and advertiser names as Topic Level 2s.

[JustyR]

Thanks for that. I'll have to have a play at the weekend.

[JustyR]

You obviously know far more about indexes than I do (never used them before). Would you kindly help me out some more?

There are about 150 different advertisers, all different names. Not all of those advertisers end up in the magazine. Let's say there are about 50.

Currently, I have a CC Library of ALL the names, each assigned one of five Paragraph Styles, depending upon which category the advertiser comes under.

Those categories (Services, Retail, etc.) become the level 1 topics. Got that.

But how do I then assign all these different advertisers under their respective topics?

Ta

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Hi JustyR:

This may be more work than you want, although once set up, updates will be easy. The background to understand is that while a TOC is a list of paragraphs (collected via specifying a paragraph style), an index is a list of markers (that you have to add yourself). Also note that a TOC is chronological, and index is alphabetical. You can override the sort order, but I would only do it for the top level (Services, Retail, Out & About, etc.). Are you Ok with the advertisers being listed in alphabetical order?

From Adobe: Create an index in InDesign

From me:

1. Set up the Level 1 Topic list: Services, Retail, Out & About, etc.
2. Add the references: for example, select an occurrence of an advertiser. Click the reference radio button in the Index panel and the Add new index entry button. Specify the two levels, the this case Retail:Adobe. Add.
   
3. Continue adding all of the advertisers.
   
4. Generate the Index. (Mine is unformatted, but you can format it anyway you like).
   
5. You can adjust the sort order. You only showed 5 topics—an easy way is to number them 1–5 (or more if you have them.)
   
6. Then regenerate the index:

I know indexing is confusing for a non-indexer. There's about 35 minutes of online training here: Creating index topics and references

And here is a link for a 10-day free trial so that you can watch them for free.

Online Video Tutorials at lynda.com • lynda.com

[JustyR]

Many thanks for taking the time to help me out.

I'm trying to get a script working that could save a lot of time - but in the meantime, it's a manual process, as you say.

Can those references under the topics be ordered by page number?

[Barb Binder]

A TOC is presented in chronological order (in order of appearance in the document). An index is alphabetical. You can customize the sort order, but I think it would be too much work for the advertisers, if they keep changing. Hence my question, "Are you OK with the advertisers being listed in alphabetical order?".

I do a lot of long document layout, and because I charge by the job and not by the hour, what I ask myself every day is how fast can I do this, with the least amount of effort? In this situation, I would work with the client to accept the alphabetical presentation of the advertisers, if it were me.

[JustyR]

It could be re-ordered by number using GREP, but that's a few extra steps. I think I'll end up using my five TOCs. Shame it has to end with not being able to order by number (for now).

Edit: here's a video to re-order an index by number: Sort an index by page number | InDesign | lynda.com - YouTube

[Barb Binder]

Yep, the GREP/Sort/GREP option that David shows certainly keeps indexing in the running, without having to compromise the desired order.

In the end, it's your call. Hopefully I addressed your original question of a one frame alternative workflow.

I could stop there and be done, but I wonder if there's a way to do the above in one text frame? Can anyone offer some pointers?

[JustyR]

You certainly did. Thanks. It's not without its pitfalls but I think it's better than five separate TOCs - or doing it manually, for that matter.

The painful thing was updating each CC Library item (text box with advertiser name inside - non-printing) with an index reference and topic. So when I drag those items into a magazine over each advert, it populates the index dialog box.

Sorting by page number wasn't possible with the Sample script. But I found this one instead:

Language-aware paragraph/line sorter | Peter Kahrel

Thanks for your help and tips. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

[Barb Binder]

Awesome! Glad I could help. And I hope you get to enjoy the rest of your weekend, as well.