Advanced control of text flow in columns - help!

[Isoneryum]

Hi,

So I've created a document with master pages, primary text frames etc. The text frames have 3 columns, and titles and subtitles which span all columns and the copy which is split into the columns. All text is in paragraph styles and there are graphics covering large areas of the page which the text will also wrap around.

An example is like this:

Is there a way to manually control/split the text so that the "Title" and all the copy under that goes in the first 2 columns, then the "Subtitles 1-3" go in the 3rd column? Then the next "Title "would go under all of that? For example:

I have around 12 spreads which will all have variations in where I want the "horizontal splits" to go and how long the copy under each section is/how many columns it should take up.  I tried the title spanning 2 columns which just put everything in the 1st two columns and nothing in the 3rd and likely isn't a solution with the variations in other spreads. 

I know I can force stuff into the next column but that's not really what I'm looking for. The only thing I can think of is to have a ton of text boxes and not use threaded frames but that seems wrong. I'm sure there must be a way of doing this but I can't describe it accurately enough for google or You Tube to tell me what I need.

Thanks in advance!

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Is your example correct in showing subheads 1-3 at the bottom of the page and in the 3rd column? I suspect it was just a error and you want the subheads ONLY in the 3rd column.

If so, set up your parent pages without primary frames at first, create a 2-column box and a 1-column box on the left/right parent pages. THEN link the boxes altogether, left to right--this effectively makes the primary text frames. 

(I added borders so you can see the frames)

The create your styles:

• Title
• Title_ColBk (based on Title)
• Subtitle
• Subtitle_ColBk (based on Subtitle)

I've attached the file.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Rather than use a complex text frame layout, why not use 3-column and set the first two (major) heads to span only two columns?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

This would work. You would still need the Subtitle_ColBk styles to jump the first subtitle over.

Wouldn't the body text would still flow into the third column. 

[Isoneryum]

Hi David,

Thanks for the suggestion! The example was correct though, I was trying to show how there isn't a 1 size fits all and I need to have different amounts of text and different headings filling the spaces differently. There are always 2 main headings and several subtitles for each spread, but each spread has different amounts of text so sometimes I will want the initial header and paragraph to just span the first 2 columns but sometimes it will span all 3.

The graphics that will be on the page are different shapes and sizes too and will also sometimes cover the 3rd column or sometimes all 3 columns, sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom, sometimes in the middle. So I need a way to manually split the text and how it fills the columns for each spread. Sounds like I need to create separate boxes though.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

As far as some text spanning 2 col. vs. 3 col.--that would just be multiple based-on styles. Just apply the one that meets your need on that page. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

This, and if it isn't clear from the previous discussion, it's ALWAYS preferable to use styles to position and shift text around within a single standard page flow, rather than break up a page into separate frames. Not absolute — there are reasons to use those secondary or offset frames — but to be avoided if  you can. Heads that break across 1, 2 or all 3 columns should serve all your needs. Keep them in a hierarchy for easy management.

[Isoneryum]

Thanks all for your suggestions! But I'm not sure I'm explaining what I'm trying to do very well 😕

I did explain in my original post that I'd already tried spanning 2 columns with the first title. It doesn't work, it just means everything fills the first 2 columns, from top to bottom, and the 2nd main title ends up in the 3rd column as opposed to under the first title and all its associated copy and subtitles etc. If I use column breaks it means the 2nd Title goes onto the next page/4th column of the spread rather than starting back in the bottom section of the 1st column on the 1st page, under the first title and copy, like what I was trying to achieve in the 2nd screenshot from my post, which I had to use separate text boxes for. 

I know it's preferable to use styles over 100 different random boxes scattered all over the place, that's why I'm asking for a way to make this work but having a ton of different styles doesn't feel worth the hassle, you might as well not bother if you need a whole set of new, slightly variated styles for every single spread. I'm looking for something like a column break or line break to just tweak where the text is falling, not overriding styles. 

Maybe a top and bottom text box split into 3 columns is the way to go, using forced breaks where required, as opposed to a bunch of separate boxes for every section of text.