how to tell where a variable is used?

Still mulling over this question...

One other idea is to use Edit > Find/Change to locate either Any Variable or Variable of Name: xxx.

And I do use color-coding in my some of docs while editing as per FieryPantone's previous response, and then just change the color of the character style before sending it out for edits. FieryPantone's idea is helpful for highlighting variables, x-refs, etc.

~Barb

If you've nothing else to do … you could roll up your sleeves, make .mif copies of the files you need to scrutinise and attack them with a text editor :-} Or, for diagnostics, apply a new and eye-catching character style to a particular variable definition (temporarily) so it leaps off the page?

But we usually do have other things to do, and an easier way to keep track of variables would often help.

Hi MAMcKinnon:

Just to clarify, double-clicking a variable name in the Variables pod was (and is) the shortcut to add a variable to the text flow—but you aren't misremembering the list of variable occurrences. In Fm 2015, you could see the list of occurrences at the bottom of the Add/Edit Variables pod, and in 2017 that list is no longer there.

~Barb