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INDESIGN Book

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
August 4, 2022
5 replies
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I've created a Book using 47 different InDesign Documents. Each uses a common folio (page number and title of the report). I need to change the date in the title. This document was created last year, so I need to open each documents and change the date on the Parent page (there happens to be four parent pages in each document). Is there a way of linking this content - in other words. I'd like to change this once instead of 47 times.

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Correct answer Barb Binder

Hi @StaceyH.:

Is this going to happen again next year?

If so, I would take the time this year to define a Custom Text variable with this year's date as the definition. Insert it into the first file. Copy the variable to the clipboard, and use Find/Change to find the current date in the other files as previously described, paste ^c (Clipboard Contents, Formatted) to paste in the variable.

This will take slightly longer to set up than just a regular find/change this year. But next year, you can update the definition in the one of the book files, and then sync the updated variable definition to all of the other books files in just a few seconds.

~Barb

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @StaceyH.:

Great, I'm glad that that you have a solution that will work for you.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Peter Spier

Community Expert

This is untested, so try it on a copy, but it seem to me that this would be a perfect usage for syncing Parent pages...

BobLevine

Community Expert

I thought of that, but I haven't tested it, either. 🙂

Barb Binder

Correct answer

Community Expert

Hi @StaceyH.:

Is this going to happen again next year?

If so, I would take the time this year to define a Custom Text variable with this year's date as the definition. Insert it into the first file. Copy the variable to the clipboard, and use Find/Change to find the current date in the other files as previously described, paste ^c (Clipboard Contents, Formatted) to paste in the variable.

This will take slightly longer to set up than just a regular find/change this year. But next year, you can update the definition in the one of the book files, and then sync the updated variable definition to all of the other books files in just a few seconds.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

This worked perfectly and is the option I would recommend.

It only added a minute more for steps 1 and 2:

Create variable
Sync variable to all files.
Open all files (using book)
Find/Change All [Open] Documents

Tip for OP: You can save all open files at once by using the Cntl-Alt-Shift-S keyboard command (Cmd-Opt-Shift-S on Mac).

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

BobLevine

Community Expert

Seems to me the simplest way would be a find change. I'd open 10 documents at a time and do it that way unless that exact date is going to show up in other places.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Does F/C find static text in Parent pages? I can't bring an example to mind but my experience is that only document pages are searched.

—

BobLevine

Community Expert

Here's a screenshot

to show how I'd do this.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Pretty sure one of the script wizards here can come up with something that simplifies this.

Just as a very general layout/design principle, though, it's best to keep all live content on the document pages, one way or the other. Parent pages should hold only static material. Maybe your docs are absolutely ideally designed for your needs, but I don't think I'd ever put a title, rev date, etc. on a Parent page.

If these dates were in the live content, a simple (or not-too-complex) Find/Change would probably do the job.

Cue the wizards... 🙂

—

S

StaceyH.Author

Participant

Thanks, James, but having the document title next to the page number at the bottom of a document is commonplace (IE. XX Annual Report of Company Name–2021). There is nothing wrong with what you are suggesting. But I believe it would be a lot of additional work having this on a live type page in 400-page plus document. Having this on the Parent Page reduces any potential errors. Thanks for your suggestion.

BobLevine

Community Expert

I concur. The parent / master page is a good location, and as I've shown below, a find change would do this pretty quickly, but you might want to consider applying a character or paragraph style to it that no other text would have. This will allow you to narrow the search and avoid changing anything you don't want to change.

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