Adding addl tabs to Table of Contents reference page

[_Laura_Makarchuk_]

I'm using FM 7.0, and I'm trying to format my TOC with tabs so that my autonumbered headings are aligned as follows:

1.1 Title of first section..................pg#
1.2 Title of second section.................pg#

My reference page entry:

<$paranumonly>(LEFT TAB MARK)<$paratext>(RIGHT TAB MARK)<$pagenum>

LEFT TAB is set at 0.5". RIGHT TAB is set at 6.75" with leaders.

When I update the TOC, I get:

1.1 Title of first section pg#
1.2 Title of second section pg#

That is, the section titles are properly aligned left, but the pg#s fall just a space after the titles rather than aligned right with leaders.

When I view the tab marks, they're where they should be. When I'm in the Body Page, I can manually hit the Tab key once to send the pg# to the far right where it belongs. But why isn't the right tab stop working properly from the reference page?

Just an FYI - I also have TOC reference entries for section headings WITHOUT autonumbering. Those do NOT include a LEFT TAB, and the RIGHT TAB (set exactly the same as above) works PERFECTLY.

I've searched all over the Internet and thru 2 FM manuals, and I cannot find any reference to this issue. I'm starting to think the reference file is not programmed to accept multiple tabs.

[Art Campbell]

It sounds as if the right tab stop may be too far out... beyond the edge of the text box, maybe? On the TOC body page, can you drag the tab stop in one of the entries back and forth on the ruler bar?

Art

[_Laura_Makarchuk_]

Hi Art,

Thank you for the suggestion. Yes, I have tried clicking in an entry (in the TOC body page) and dragging the right tab to the left in the ruler. It makes no difference.

I also tried deleting the tabs and re-entering them in order, setting each tab as I went. That made no difference, either.

Whats interesting is that, in the TOC body page, if I click to the left of each page number, then hit TAB, the page number moves to where it should be and the leaders show up. So the tab is working properly in that way. It just isnt working automatically as it should.

I dont know much about FM, but after searching high and low for an answer to this problem, Ive realized there are plenty of glitches in the program. Maybe Ive discovered another.

Laura

[Art Campbell]

Maybe, but it's working quite nicely, just as it's supposed to, in 7.1, which is the oldest version I have available. And it also works in 8... so there must be a setting either in your TOC paragraph tag or on the Reference Page that isn't getting set.

Art

[Art Campbell]

Laura,
If you want someone else to poke it, you can send it to me at art.campbell@gmail.com

[_Thomas_Michanek_]

Make sure you're looking at and editing the "TOC" Reference page
in the generated TOC file. No other file and no other Reference page.

Make sure you only have one "TOC" Reference page. Sometimes, FM
creates a secondary Reference page "TOC1" or similar, that is actually
used instead. Look through *all* the Reference pages.

Make sure the paragraphs on the TOC Reference page are named
exactly right: the name of the heading tags with "TOC" appended.
Letter case is important, as well as spaces, underscores, etc.

Make sure you don't have multiple entries for the same tag. Go
through each paragraph on the TOC Reference page.

Finally, make sure the width of the text frame on the TOC Ref. page
is exactly the same as the text frame of the TOC file's body pages,
and that the tab stop is defined to be within that width. Look at
the text frame properties, not judging by eye with the ruler.
Even a small difference like 6.75" vs. 6.74999" is important.

--
/Thomas Michanek

[_Laura_Makarchuk_]

Thank you, Thomas. Those are all good points, but none of them are an issue here. Art suggested a tab (entered, but not set up in the paragraph designer) just after the heading but before the leaders. This does get the right tab to kick in and send the page number to the far right. However, it also adds a bit of unwanted space between end of the heading and the start of the leaders. It looks, though, like this may be as good as it's going to get.

If anyone can come up with a solution that avoids adding the extra space, please let me know.

Thank you both for your help!

Laura

[_Laura_Makarchuk_]

Just to clarify...

The spacing problem I described above occurs only when the TOC is made up of headings that are autonumbered AND begin with digits. If the autonumbering begins with letters, such as "Table" or "Figure", the extra tab works perfectly. Weird, huh?