Is it possible to add an "annotation" layer based on text spot color?

Hi again.

Is by any chance your Annotation text always placed at the end of tout text frame ?

If so, then you could handle the problem using conditionnal text.

Protecting pdf is something to consider but it's not hard to "crack" protected pdf

Thanks for the answers, everyone!

I realize now that I should have clarified what end result I'm looking for--something that vinny38 picked up on--which is a PDF of the SE file without the anno at all, for digital users. Changing the character color to the none swatch or white produces PDFs with invisible, but still accessible type. I'm hoping to somehow put the anno on a non-printing layer or have InDesign ignore a specific color when exporting PDFs so that I can, hopefully, easily produce digital versions of my student edition files.

To answer some of your questions, vinny83, the files are all 2-color (black and a spot), and all instances of the anno are on a blank background. The TE_Anno color is built into the file as a "third" spot, but is actually just the same color with a different swatch name. This allows those with access to Pitstop to easily strip the TE_Anno content from the exported PDF. I'm often asked to recreate PDFs with minor adjustments for digital customers, but the presence of anno text blocks me from producing true student content 9 times out of 10.

Hopefully I didn't make things more confusing!

How about temporarily editing the spot colour to be C0 M0 Y0 K0 process colour when exporting the PDF of the student edition? This would only work if it's all on a plain paper background.

Hi

Just like Uwe, I'm trying to figure out what is the idea behind your request.

Especially since your saying that your printer comes up with what seems to be an acceptable solution.

Questions:

Do you want two separate files:

One with 4-color process for Students and one with 4-color + 1 Spot for Teachers?

or

One with 4-color process for both versions and one with TE-Anno Spot only, to be added to the "common" file in the printing process?

Extra 2 questions:

is the TE-Anno black? if not, is the anno text always placed on a blank background?

If the answers of these 2 questions are NO, then you'll experience trapping problems while removing the spot color (in which case, I would much better understand your request...)

If you can make thinks a bit clearer, it should be easy to come up with a fast export solution, and you won't have to worry about layers.

regards

Vinny

spencerg48423750 wrote: Another issue is that almost every text box has both body text and anno.

Hmmm...that's going to become THEE issue. If all instances of "anno' were in discreet frames, scripting their migration to a dedicated layer would probably be doable. But with both styles co-existing in a given frame, they can't be layer-segregated, especially not without losing their relative positions in the layout.

What you could do: Using the Find Format feature in Find/Change, search for all text of the color TE_Anno and change its Character Color to None. Export to PDF as the SE.