Getting a line of text to appear in multiple places in a document

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 3, 2017
5 replies
1488 views

I have an InDesign document with four master pages in it that have different page sizes. The document will be used as a blank template for presentations.

I want to be able to include the name of the presentation in a footer at the bottom of every page in the document. I can place a text box in the bottom corner of the four master pages, and these can be updated with the presentation name every time there is a new presentation. But I'd like to be able to just type the presentation name in once (rather than four times), and this updates every footer in the document. The trouble is that because my master pages are four different sizes, I can't just apply the first master page to the other three, because the footer ends up in an odd place on those pages.

I guess what I'm asking is, is there a way I can type something in a text box once and have it appear on every page in a document, but in different positions on the page?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Lots of great ideas here. I do want to point out that variables not breaking across lines is a limitation of variables in InDesign, but most footers don't break across lines.

That said, Aman, variables that can break across lines (live captions too) would be an handy addition to a future version of InDesign.

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

amaarora

Inspiring

Hi,

Yes agreed. Did you vote for this highly requested idea here?Make text variables/live captions breakable like normal text – Adobe InDesign Feedback

-Aman

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Yes!

(ok, I just did. )

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Community Expert

And the instruction would be:

How to update the presentation title

Type > Text Variables > Define
Click on Presentation Name, and click on Edit
Replace the current definition in the Text field with the new presentation title
Ok, Done

You could include it in an email, or put it on the pasteboard, outside of the printable area.

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

F

floaton3Author

Participant

Thanks for both of these suggestions guys.

Although they're both good ideas I was hoping for a solution that would work well for dummies given this is a template I will need to pass on to other people. Is there no way I can type text once within the document and have it appear on another page in another position automatically? The place and link option is good but I don't like that you can edit the placed text box, and I was also hoping for something where it would just automatically update the text in that box, rather than give you a yellow warning icon that the original text has changed. I'm really after the effect you get when you base one master page on another.

I appreciate what I'm asking for might be impossible but just throwing this out there again in case someone has another idea.

Steve Werner

Community Expert

I think you're trying to use the wrong tool. InDesign just isn't designed for dummies. You can create templates with InDesign, but it would require some instruction to use them.