how to tell where a variable is used?

[MAMcKinnon]

FM 2015 (I believe was the version before the latest) did this neat thing where you could display a variables pod (the one that appeared below the doc that let you edit, apply, delete variables) and my double clicking on a variable name, a separate window would come up that would list all the occurrences of the variable. You could click on an occurrence in that list and go there. Boom. (I may not have this described exactly right.... as the update took away my old version.

Now, in 2017, all I get is the variables pod with the list of current variables and the add/edit/delete (etc) buttons. I've found no way to find where the occurrences of a particular  variable live.

Am I missing something?

[Barb Binder]

Hi MAMcKinnon:

Just to clarify, double-clicking a variable name in the Variables pod was (and is) the shortcut to add a variable to the text flow—but you aren't misremembering the list of variable occurrences. In Fm 2015, you could see the list of occurrences at the bottom of the Add/Edit Variables pod, and in 2017 that list is no longer there.

~Barb

[MAMcKinnon]

Yes, i’m not surprised that i missremember how one got that list od variable occurrences. I do recall that it was very handy, but that it was a bit tempermental.

Mobile

[Barb Binder]

Hi Mobile:

Right? I'm not sure why it was removed, but if it was important to you, you can put in a feature request here:

Tracker

~Barb

[Stefan-Gentz]

Hi BarbBinder: We already have a ticket for this and plan to bring this back in the next release.

[Barb Binder]

Oh, good to know, Stefan!

~Barb

[FieryPantone]

If you've nothing else to do … you could roll up your sleeves, make .mif copies of the files you need to scrutinise and attack them with a text editor :-} Or, for diagnostics, apply a new and eye-catching character style to a particular variable definition (temporarily) so it leaps off the page?

But we usually do have other things to do, and an easier way to keep track of variables would often help.

[Barb Binder]

Still mulling over this question...

One other idea is to use Edit > Find/Change to locate either Any Variable or Variable of Name: xxx.

And I do use color-coding in my some of docs while editing as per FieryPantone's previous response, and then just change the color of the character style before sending it out for edits. FieryPantone's idea is helpful for highlighting variables, x-refs, etc.

~Barb