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Nedlaw
Legend
May 4, 2020
Answered

Forced line breaks in heads appear in cross-references

  • May 4, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 2445 views

Hi. Not an ID newbie, but this has me puzzled. In a Level 1 style head, I have inserted a forced line break:

 

Appendix A<shift-return>

Now is the time for all good men

 

This works great on the page when the head appears.

Elsewhere in the book, I insert a cross reference (paragraph and page number), and I get:

 

blah blah blah (see Appendix A<forced return>

Now is the time for all good men on page 47).

 

There does not seem to be an obvious way to remove the break as there is when creating a Table of Contents. It appears that I must go without a break in the L1 head (where I want it) or have one in the cross reference (where I don't want it).

 

I suppose I could create two look-alike styles: one for the appendix and its number, and another style for its text and insert two XRefs... but then the TOC will only carry the Appendix numbering and not its title. (At least in the TOC I can remove the forced return).

 

What to do?

 

Thanks.

 

-j

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer FRIdNGE

It's not because you need:

 

Appendix A<shift-return>

Now is the time for all good men

 

… on 2 lines that you need a soft-return!

 

Instead of playing a "soft-return", play a "non-joiner" (+ 2 Grep styles + 2 char styles)!

 

 

So, no "soft-return" used, no problem in your cross-ref.!  =D

 

About Headers:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/running-heads-and-forced-line-breaks-extra-space-character/m-p/11111107?page=1#M185314

 

I've already showed this trick here several times in the past!

 

(^/)  The Jedi

2 replies

daan visser
daan visser
Participant
August 23, 2022

Hey there, 

 

Came across this post while looking at the same problem, 

 

With the below work arounds I could add one more:

 

Just adding a right indent to the Header/paragraph you'd like to cross reference to.

With the right indent you can also 'break' the text, in most cases just how you'd like (besides it being an override of your style..) and end up with a clean cross reference link/text. 

 

It's not 'the' solution, but like the ones below, one that might do the trick in some cases 🙂

daan visser
daan visser
Participant
August 23, 2022

ps, with the below work-arounds, I mean the above

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 4, 2020

You are correct in everything you stated and there is no way to disable the line break in an x-ref (great feature request).

 

So what does this actually look like on the body page? Would "Appendix A Now is the time for all good men" fit on a single line if you didn't use a line break or would some of the words wrap to the next line? I'm wondering if Balance Ragged Lines (perhaps combined with non-breaking spaces) would help.

 

One more thought: you could set this up as two back-to-back cross references each to their own paragraph. And then you could just add the title to the TOC and then add appendix A in front of it as an auto number.

 

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    N
    NedlawAuthor
    Legend
    May 4, 2020

    Thanks very much for your reply. The line would wrap anyway, but it breaks early at the forced break leaving an odd hole. The only time that would not matter is if the A of Appendix A was the natural last character on the line.

     

    I was hoping that someone else had encountered and solved this problem, which I have seen from time to time and worked around. I've decided that I would insert a colon and make my heads read:

     

    Appendix A: Now is the time for all good men

     

    But I should be able to have a forced break in there and get rid of it in the Xref as I can in the TOC. Hmmmm. Just thought that maybe I could achieve this with a nested style... but will have to experiment.

     

    Thanks. again.

     

    -j

      FRIdNGE
      FRIdNGECorrect answer
      May 5, 2020

      It's not because you need:

       

      Appendix A<shift-return>

      Now is the time for all good men

       

      … on 2 lines that you need a soft-return!

       

      Instead of playing a "soft-return", play a "non-joiner" (+ 2 Grep styles + 2 char styles)!

       

       

      So, no "soft-return" used, no problem in your cross-ref.!  =D

       

      About Headers:

      https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/running-heads-and-forced-line-breaks-extra-space-character/m-p/11111107?page=1#M185314

       

      I've already showed this trick here several times in the past!

       

      (^/)  The Jedi

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