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carolinek76276267
Participating Frequently
July 26, 2018
Question

Can marker symbols/text symbols be customized?

  • July 26, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 437 views

Another question: In unstructured FM, can marker symbols (text symbols) be customized and without having to use a Character style or a condition to assist with its visibility? For example, say I want to use the Comment marker in a particular way on a section heading, but the heading also has an Index maker symbol and a bunch of other markers. All the marker symbols look the same unless you apply a character tag to them, but for time management reasons, I want to avoid that step - I just want to be able to insert a marker that would automatically look different depending on the type that I select (for example, I was imagining that the ability to customize markers might be the same way that you can already customize Conditional Text markers [Edit Condition Tag], so why not marker tags?). If a section heading has a bunch of markers on it, it's difficult to visually distinguish them from one another and hypothetically, I don't have time to then select the marker to then apply a character tag to achieve that visibility. So I was wondering if there was a way to distinguish Index markers from Comment markers, for example (or, in another way, since they're text symbols, is there a way to customize text symbols?).

Additionally, is there a way to make marker text visible inline without having to open the dialog? For example, inline, similar to Word's hidden text setting.

Note, I'm NOT talking about editing the marker name/type (i.e., using Edit Custom Marker Type). I'm talking about the way the symbol displays on the page in View Text Symbols mode  (i.e., can the T symbol be customized and again, w/o having to apply a character tag).

I've searched in the Help, Reference page, and Preferences, and have right-clicked on the entry field in the Marker dialog, but haven't found anything (and although I like the unicode character options in the Marker dialog right-click menu, but don't think that answers the question). Plus searched through the forum on "marker" etc., but no dice.

Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Known Participant
July 26, 2018

You can display marker text inline with IXGen. It's been a while since I used it, but as I recall it will work with any kind of markers, not just index markers.

AFAIK there is no way to change the default marker symbol. I am pretty sure I put in a feature request for this years ago and other people may have. Even the ability to colour the marker symbol would be useful.

Regards

Keith

K.Daube
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 27, 2018

Nearly in every beta round in the past (since FM-10) i placed a feature request concerning

  • better visibility of location cursor
  • option to colour the text symbols also for better recognition

To no success so far.

A modification of fmres.dll can only change the apearance of FM-cursors (and setting an maker.ini entry to off) and the small indicators on the ruler:

fm-cursor-coloured.png

See for example http://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker75.html

Matt-Tech Comm Tools
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 26, 2018

No.

But that would be a great thing to suggest at adobe.com/go/wish.

-Matt

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant