Thanks for sharing those links, @Jeff_Coatsworth!   And @Susan305351693t3o, styles are the topic of an upcoming webinar. The website went live this morning, but they haven't been announced yet. If you are on the email list, you will get a notification. https://unlocking-the-power-of-styles.meetus.adobeevents.com/   ~Barb ... View more

Me too! 🤣   ~Barb ... View more

Glad that was so easy! 😊   ~Barb ... View more

Hi Keith:   I think I may have the same set-up question as Robert... why are you creating/assigning/calling in character styles? I use a Running Header (Character style) in place of a Running Header (Paragraph style) when I just want to pull some of an insanely long title into the running head. (I have authors who will write 4-5 line titles that will never fit in the space provided for the running head.) But in your case, you are mostly pullling in entire paragraphs so you could simplify the workflow and juse use Running Header (Paragraph style) to call in the H2s and H3s. (Your H1s are partial paragraphs in that you are not calling in the word Chapter.) Not saying that's the issue but it's worth noting.    Now I do use Running Header (Character style)s in a very footnote-intensive document (~300 notes per article, 3–5 articles in a file) with absolutely no issues. However, I'm still using v19.5.2 for production because I don't fully trust v20 yet.   So some questions (and I know you know InDesign, Keith, so please forgive me for checking the obvious things first): What version of InDesign and what OS? The RH variables do require threaded text frames and that gets overlooked sometimes—are your frames threaded between the two pages you are sharing with us? Where is the footnote reference? In a head or in a body para? We can't see it in your screen shot.  And a missing head should still show the variable placeholder—it's not on yours?   ~Barb ... View more

Hi @christiane_2136:   I have both the CC All Apps Plan and the TCS Plan (which includes FrameMaker), but the CC Desktop App only manages my CC apps. I manage my TCS updates from within the applications (i.e., in FrameMaker, Help > Updates). There isn't an auto-update option for the TCS apps. (And I turn it off for the CC apps so not missing it.)    I found this quote (that I evidently solicited from the TCS support team a few years ago) in response to a similar question:: There is no automatic update that happens for FrameMaker/RoboHelp/Technical Communication Suite. Once the release is available, a user has to download and install the new build manually. —https://community.adobe.com/t5/framemaker-discussions/is-framemaker-2022-going-to-be-an-automatic-update-to-those-subscribing-to-fm-2020/td-p/13226909   Until this changes, you upgraded FrameMaker the right way (and the only way).    ~Barb ... View more

Hi @jw71500773:   Did you play around with Winfried's idea of sorting the columns by definition? Since Fm's system variables mostly begin with <& (table variables start with an open parenthesis) and user variables tend to start with letters or numbers, that would group them all at the top (or bottom of the list), just as it would if the gear icons had their own column.   I know you aren't open to renaming your user variables, but I prefer Rick's suggestion of assigning them with Ctrl-0, first letter(s). It's similar to using Ctrl-8 and Ctrl-9 to assign styles from the keyboard: thoughful style naming makes it easier to get to the style you need without much effort. As an example, starting user variables with a number would make it super quick. Ctrl+0, 1, Enter could assign 1DocTitle, and Ctrl+0, 2, Enter might assign 2RevisionNumber.   If you still just want the gear icons in a sortable column, you could log your idea as a feature request, here https://tracker.adobe.com/#/home and hope for the best.    ~Barb ... View more

Hi @dana_1216:   FrameMaker has two types of Cross-references (X-refs): paragraph and spot. Most of the time we use paragraph X-refs because they are a one-step process, and only use the two-step spot X-refs when we need to target specific words within a paragraph that may potentially break across pages. Most of the time, we are referencing heads (titles, subheads, table titles and figure captions) that will remain on a single page (though that page may change) so a paragraph X-ref will add the marker that it needs to track the paragraph and the text referring the reader to that paragraph in a single step.   In your case, I would do as @Jeff_Coatsworth suggested: just replace the word support at the end of the paragraph with a paragraph X-ref to the title in the Support.fm file (presumably the word "Support" at the top of the first page of that file).   Note that FrameMaker will default to See Heading & Page which will add See "Support" on page x but you can modify the definition to just reference the title and nothing else so that it matches what you have now. Just click the edit button to the right of the Format list to modifiy the building blocks.    ~Barb ... View more

Hi @taina.pio:   Like @leo.r, I'd also like to see how you have Numbering & Section Options set up. I start sections regularly, but use continuous numbering that increments between all of the sections.     ~Barb ... View more

FWIW, I have used Malwarebytes on my Macs for years. No issues. I also regularly reset my preferences with no issues. You can back up the important preset files (scripts, keyboard shortcuts, workspaces, etc) prior to resetting preferences so it might take five minutes to recreate your actual preferences.   -~Barb ... View more

Hi Hendy:   Add spacing below the paragraph above (... as a full meal.), then follow @tonks_the_auror's advice.   If you adjust both, you will end up with the result you are looking for.    ~Barb       ... View more

Hi Hendy:   As per @James Gifford—NitroPress, you might want to pause, and read about how to create, format and manage a generated table of contents. You can start with this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-table-contents.html but you will find plenty of additional resources if you look online. I wouldn't continue until you do.   Here is the most import principle of a table of contents created using Layout > Table of Contents: A table of contents is simply a list of paragraphs (headings, specifically) that InDesign types up for you, based on your paragraph heading styles. Knowing that you are working on a cookbook, you might tell InDesign to call in the section heads (Soup, Entrées, Desserts) and the recipe titles (Cream of Chicken Soup). They will be typed up in chronological order, meaning the order in which they appear in the book.    You can absolutely edit a table of contents: If you see a typo in a heading, (i.e., Cream of Chiken Soup), navigate to the chicken soup page, fix it there, and then update the Table of Contents (TOC). InDesign retypes the entire TOC for you. (See @jmlevy's note.) For that reason, we don't ever type on the generated TOC, because the next time we update the TOC, we lose the manual edits on the TOC as inDesign retypes the entire thing. (See @Peter Kahrel's note.) For that reason, we do format the TOC with styles created specifically for the TOC entries, and we map the body styles to the TOC styles when we updated. (See @Dave Creamer of IDEAS's note above.) The styles are reapplied after each update. If you see a mistake in the formatting, edit the styles you created to control it.   As James noted, this is complicated. Please spend some time reading up on this first, and then give it another try.   ~Barb   ... View more

Hi Jay:   20.01 is an early release of InDesign 2025. Can you update to 20.1 and see if it does the same thing? That's what I was using for testing.   ~Barb ... View more

I did it both ways, couldn't replicate it.  But that it happened to multiple students could point to a bug.   What InDesign version and OS?   ~Barb ... View more

Hi @default9r4wwlq692cy:   Welcome to the Community forums. I like the idea of using a table, as previously suggested. Perhaps something like this?     You can learn more about how to use tables in InDesign here: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-tables.html. Note the additional links in the left column.    ~Barb ... View more

Thanks, Jay:   The issue I showed was caused by absolute numbering enabled in preferences. I've tried every combination I can think of and I cannot re-create what you are showing us.   My only other idea is just to take a quick look at your section and remembering properties dialog box. If you double click the little triangle above page 2 in the Page panel, it will open up. Can you share that screenshot? And please share the InDesign version and OS version. Actually, if you make a new file, does it happen again?   If the answer isn't obvious after that, then either there's corruption (unlikely in a new file) or somebody else needs to step in and continue the troubleshooting because I'm out of ideas. There are a bunch of us here, and all the Adobe Community Experts are very knowledgeable. One of them will recognize what I must be overlooking.    ~Barb ... View more

These badges are only visible on the parent pages and distinguish regular frames (left) from primary frames (right). No, we can't turn them off (they offer valuable info at a glance) but I'm curious why so many of you are bothered by them. How much time do you spend working with parent page content? I'm typically on the parent pages long enough to add the running heads and repeating graphics, and then spend the rest of the time on my body pages, where they aren't visible.   ~Barb ... View more

The opposite of this, right? Can you share a similar screen shot?   ~Barb   ... View more

Happens to me all the time!!! LOL ... View more

Hi @SuzzyFlamingo:   InDesign doesn't have macros/actions that you can record and assign to a hot key as you are describing. Someone with scripting knowledge can help with a script that will do this and I'll add the scripting tag to get their attention.    In the meantime, without outside help (and a potential fee for development—it depends on who responds and the complexity of the job), you can create an object style for your text frame with your prefered settings. This will allow you to draw a text frame, drag to anchor it and then assign the object style (that can be assigned a keyboard shortuct!) with your frame presets.   See https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/object-styles.html.    ~Barb ... View more

Hi @Roman22840239vayf:   Are you exporting a spread because you want people to see the left and right facing pages?   If yes, you can export as Pages and then set the view in Adobe Acrobat.    If that works, you can set this as the initial view settings on export so that the file always open the way that that you want people to see it.    Then the page numbers behave as expected.   ~Barb ... View more

Hi @JH-Wendy:   Perhaps I made a leap here—so please correct me if I'm wrong—but I'm assuming you want to print the print version, and view the interactive version online? And are looking for a way to manage both versions with minimal stress?   If yes, then in addition to what I already mentioned, if you use alternate layouts, you can print the print alternate layout, and export the digital alternate layout to PDF or Publish Online. They are just page ranges within the same file.  Again, if you have any questions, @JH-Wendy , just ask!   ~Barb ... View more

Hi @JH-Wendy:   Working within InDesign's feature set, no, you can't anchor between layers. If you have an image on one layer and anchor it to text on another layer, the image will jump itself to the text layer.    But you are trying to create a multi-version document and there are a few ways to approach it that stay within the feature set: layers, conditional text and alternative layouts.   So layers are out, obviously. Conditonal text doesn't seem like the best approach (see the bottom of this page: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/editing-text.html). It involves setting up version tags and hiding/showing them. You could certainly play with it, but I'd lean towards an Alternate Layout. (See the bottom of this page: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/alternate-layouts-liquid-layouts.html). An alternate layout creates a different version of a document, within the same file. You can link them together so that they start out the same, but then you can add your interactive features to the digital version. They are both in one file so fairly easy to manage. For example,     I'd start there and then come back if you have additional questions. We are always happy to help.   ~Barb ... View more

Yes, the controls are in the ME version—you can see them on the page I linked to in my first reply. At that point, I was still trying to figure out the situation.   Now, I think this can happen in a file that originated in an ME version too. I don't see any way it could toggle on otherwise. Nor have I seen reports of it.  ~Barb ... View more

Glad you were able to get this worked out, @Kelli Jae Baeli.    To be clear, the Story panel controls the threading order (which was visible in your screen shot), which is separate from the language order. Not clear why InDesign decided to switch the story direction on you without ME influence, but since you have it worked out, we can move along. I'll mark your last answer as correct.   ~Barb ... View more

Hi Melissa:   I understand your frustration. Can you please share your Operating System (Mac or Windows + version number) and your InDesign version?    Preferences can become corrupt after an update, and can be rebuilt. But the Windows 24H2 has been causing issues with InDesign—if you are on 24H2, you may need to roll back your operating system. (And disable automatic updates in Windows.)   ~Barb ... View more

Oh boy. This would be expected when using a R to L language like Hebrew and Arabic. English is L to R (Left to Right).   So the why first: are you using an ME (Middle East) version of InDesign? Or did the file you are working on begin on someone's installation of an ME Version of InDesign? In either case, you should be able to change the story direction in Type > Story (see https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/arabic-hebrew.html) but will likely need to reflow it one more time.    ~Barb ... View more

Since you are using a script, I'd reach out to the script developer to see what they recommend.   ~Barb ... View more

Hi Alexy:   Yes. How often you do this depends on how much risk you are willing to take—a few hours, a day? And I'll add that you will want to back up those versions to another drive too because if your drive fails, you will lose all versions (current and past).     ~Barb ... View more