Skip to main content
Participant
July 3, 2023
Question

Text Field Auto Naming

  • July 3, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 422 views

Ok, If I have a form with a few hundred text fields set up. Then I delete all those fields, to start afresh with new text fields - Indesign auto names them from where the previous fields finished, i.e. the first 'new' field will be named Text Field 535 rather than Text Field 1. Can I reset the auto naming/numbering in a file so it starts at 1 again?

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Community Expert
July 5, 2023

Hi @seat 2a40749400 ,

just what @John Mensinger said.

 

To reset the numbering for your current document:
Export to IDML.

Open the IDML file as new InDesign document.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

John Mensinger
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 3, 2023

I have to assume you're doing it that way because you are building and rebuilding new forms while preserving whatever non-form-field (static) elements you have on the page(s). If that's the case, soon you'll have more problems that just the name of your first new field.

 

I'd recommend you clean up the workflow by exporting a static-elements-only copy to .idml format. Reopen that .idml file, and save it as a template (.indt). Each time you want to start a new form, start with that clean, static-only template instead of a field-pruned copy of the previous live form.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 3, 2023

I don't understand your workflow at all. Why would you add hundreds of fields and delete them? But to answer you question, just give the first new field a name and go from there.

Steve Werner
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 3, 2023

I'd try restoring your InDesign preferences and caches. It's probably stored in one or the other. Here's how:

 

Adobe InDesign: Rebuilding Preferences and Cache FilesRocky Mountain Traininghttps://www.rockymountaintraining.com › adobe-inde...