Story Splitter that won't unthread ALL of my text boxes, just two.

Hi Wendy,

thanks for the screenshot.

From that I can see that the script code was not properly saved as text-only file. It was saved with text formatting. Therefore the rtf statement at the beginning of the message. rtf > Rich Text Format.

If you save ExtendScript script code make sure that the file is text-only and not formatted.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

Hi Wendy,

thanks for reporting that Ariel's script is working for you as expected.

However, we still do not know why Manan's script is not working.

Maybe you attached a screenshot with the error message when answering by mail.

But as far as I know, a mail answer will not ( can not ) contain any visible attachment here in the forum.

Would you please be so kind to go to this thread in the forum and insert your screenshot with the error message.

Or better: Also add the error message in written text.

Thanks a lot! This will be very helpful.

Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

I have modified the splitstory script for what you want, try the following. Make sure you try it on a copy of your document

main();
function main(){
	//Make certain that user interaction (display of dialogs, etc.) is turned on.
	app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
	if(app.documents.length != 0){
		if(app.selection.length != 0){
			//Get the first item in the selection.
			var mySelection = app.selection[0];
			//Process the selection. If text or a text frame is 
			//selected, do something; otherwise, do nothing.
			switch(mySelection.constructor.name){
				case "Text":
				case "InsertionPoint":
				case "Character":
				case "Word":
				case "Line":
				case "TextStyleRange":
				case "Paragraph":
				case "TextColumn":
				case "TextFrame":
					//If the text frame is the only text frame in the story, do nothing.
					if(mySelection.parentStory.textContainers.length > 1){
						//Splitting the story is a two-step process: first, duplicate
						//the text frames, second, delete the original text frames.
						mySplitStory(mySelection.parentStory);
						myRemoveFrames(mySelection.parentStory);
					}
					else{
						alert("Please select a story containing more than one text frame and try again.");
					}
					break;
				default:
					alert("Please select some text or a text frame and try again.");
			}
		}
		else{
			alert("Please select some text or a text frame and try again.");
		}
	}
	else{
		alert("Please open a document and try again.");
	}
}
function mySplitStory(myStory){
	var myTextFrame;
	//Duplicate each text frame in the story.
	var a, b
	for(var myCounter = myStory.textContainers.length-1; myCounter > 0;){
		myTextFrame = myStory.textContainers[myCounter];
		myTextFrame1 = myStory.textContainers[myCounter - 1];
		var a = myTextFrame.duplicate();
		var b = myTextFrame1.duplicate();
		if(a.parentPage.name == b.parentPage.name) a.previousTextFrame = b
		myCounter -=2
	}
}
function myRemoveFrames(myStory){
	//Remove each text frame in the story. Iterate backwards to avoid invalid references.
	for(var myCounter = myStory.textContainers.length-1; myCounter >= 0; myCounter --){
		myStory.textContainers[myCounter].remove();
	}
}

-Manan

RE: "I can't beleive InDesign hasn't developed a script for this. InDesign's splitstory or breakstory scripts unthread ALL of the text boxes, which I don't want."

Why didn't you build the chapters into separate documents and put them together ito a book file? You can still do that but it will take a little time, but you can probably do it in 30 minutes or so.