Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
October 24, 2017
Answered

Grep Styles in Indexes?

  • October 24, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 1415 views

Surely someone has this figured out.

I have a running header in an index where I want the first index term on a page to be in the header (left) and last term in header (right), but I don't want the page numbers in the index entry in the headers. So I applied a GREP style up to the first 2 spaces. However when I generate the entry the character style for the running header variable is not being applied to the index entry text as expected.

The running header does work if I apply the character style manually. And I suppose I could do a grep search and apply them after generating the index but I'd rather it worked automatically.

Does anyone know the right way to make this happen?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Barb Binder

    Oh! Duh. Well that would be simpler. I'll try that.

    >>>

    Hmm. Welp. It sorta worked, but it's not picking up the last on the page right side one. Weird.

    I'm still on 2017. I'll keep futzing. Doing the grep thing afterward may be less brain damage.


    What's showing up? I found that my little index had an extra line at the end after I generated it. I had to delete it, and then update the index before the last word showed up correctly.

    2 replies

    Jongware
    Community Expert
    JongwareCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 24, 2017

    These running header variables should pick up character styles, but, to freely abuse Orwell, some character styles are more equal than others. For some reason they never have worked right with GREP styles! You'll find it works as advertised when you apply them through their more limited precursor Nested Styles instead.

    (Which is something Adobe might want to fix some time. I'll try and see if this is made to work in the latest 2018 release; if it isn't, I'll submit it as a feature request. There seems to be no technical reason it should not work.)

    A
    Anonymous
    October 24, 2017

    Adding: I am not very good at GREP. I just figured out how to write the GREP for find any Character preceding two spaces and apply the Character Style.

    .+(?<=\s\s)

    But, I tried putting that in the GREP Style and it still does apply it to the generated index text.

    I can however use it to apply the style after generating the index. So I guess there's that.

    Still looking for answer on whether GREP styles can be applied to index text automatically—and what I am doing wrong.

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 24, 2017

    You can do this automatically, but use a nested style on the Index Level 1 Tag:

    Assign a character tag (I called mine TOC) that doesn't change anything through 2 spaces.

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    Jongware
    Community Expert
    JongwareCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 24, 2017

    Barb, are you already on '18? If so, did you try the same thing with a GREP Style? If yes and yes and no it doesn't work, I'll submit that feat req. right away.

    Who knows, we may get lucky and be in time for the very first round of bug fixes. </grinsmilesigh>

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices