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T
Tall Stories Creative
Participating Frequently
February 1, 2023
Answered

Linked text boxes on different documents with different colours

  • February 1, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 630 views

Hi all - looking for help that is difficult to describe so quite hard to google. If this rings a bell to existing questions please to link to them and I'd be super grateful.

 

I'll simplify my situation. I create many menus for many different bars across the same chain. Many use the same menu but with a colour tweak. They often change prices which results in a lot of small messy InDesign edits across each menu. 

 

I'm looking for a way to change all the menus at the same timem from one source document, but keep each menu's colour scheme the same. So I could click "Vodka - 5" and change the 5 to a 6 and have it updated on each menu. I've tried making each text box into a linked ICML file that I can place and that works for the changes, however the colours don't work - if Menu 1 is red and then I update blue Menu 2 and click save, Menu 1 also turns to blue and then same for gold Menu 3 - the text changes on each menu but all the Menu's colour schemes revert to the one that was saved last. 

 

Any help appreciated, thanks in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jmlevy

Did you try the place and link feature, with styles mapping?

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/linked-content.html

2 replies

jmlevy
Community Expert
jmlevyCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
February 1, 2023

Did you try the place and link feature, with styles mapping?

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/linked-content.html

    T
    Tall Stories CreativeAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 1, 2023

    Ah thanks this looks really helpful. I'd done most of this, but the different colours were still proving to be a problem. I'll give it another go

    jmlevy
    Community Expert
    jmlevyCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 1, 2023

    but the different colours were still proving to be a problem

    No, if you map styles.

      John Mensinger
      Community Expert
      John MensingerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 1, 2023

      I'd do that with object styles. If your color-filled text frames all had an Object Style of the same name, but edited in each individual document to apply that document's designated color, it would persist. And, even if the color were lost, it could be easily restored with a single click.

        T
        Tall Stories CreativeAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        February 1, 2023

        Thanks for the quick reply John. There's quite a bit of different formatting on each line, even within the same sentence, for example

        TYPEFACE1 CAPS BLUE, typeface2 italic grey..........TYPEFACE 1 SMALLER GREEN

         

        So would I still be able to do that with styles?

         

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