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Automate running header with "Lesson # of ##"

Community Beginner ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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I'm setting up a teachers' guide that uses:

  1. An InDesign book that contains
  2. Separate documents for each unit. Units contain
  3. Several lessons each.

 

  • The lessons will be numbered sequentially throughout the book.
  • Pgaes will be numbered sequentially throughout the book.
  • There is a paragraph style set up for the Unit/Document name.
  • There is a paragraph style set for lesson numbers, but these are currently numbered manually. I'm toying with the idea of creating a list to paragraph-number the lessons, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

I'm attempting to set up a running header to note the number of lessons in a unit and where the current lesson falls in this set.

The image below indicates my desired result. I can currently insert the unit name (World History Introduction) as a text variable, but am looking to not have to manually type "3 of 4".

 

Screenshot 2022-02-03 114643.png

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How to , Scripting , Type

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correct answers 3 Correct answers

Community Expert , Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

Are Lesson # and Lesson ## present in the main document somewhere? Ie Chapter title/section title/cover page? If so, you could use mutliple variables, and point the numbers to either Running Header <<Paragraph>> or <<Character>> style and/or Chapter Number. 

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Community Expert , Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

You can put it in a non-printing text frame at the start of the section, or just use Text Before or Text After for that paricular custom variable, or put it in a nonprinting frame at the start of the section and use running header on it

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Community Expert , Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

Attached is a simple example of what you could do with character-style variables and running headers/footers.

The LessonNum character style would be the default text color, probably black.

The total lesson number would be entered on the first page in a non-printing text frame, with the LessonNumLast character style applied. 

(My character styles are in magenta so you can see where I applied the styles.)

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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Are Lesson # and Lesson ## present in the main document somewhere? Ie Chapter title/section title/cover page? If so, you could use mutliple variables, and point the numbers to either Running Header <<Paragraph>> or <<Character>> style and/or Chapter Number. 

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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Yes, that makes sense. Lesson # is present; lesson ## is not. I was wishing for a way to have InDesign count the number of lessons in the document, I guess.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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You can put it in a non-printing text frame at the start of the section, or just use Text Before or Text After for that paricular custom variable, or put it in a nonprinting frame at the start of the section and use running header on it

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Community Expert ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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Attached is a simple example of what you could do with character-style variables and running headers/footers.

The LessonNum character style would be the default text color, probably black.

The total lesson number would be entered on the first page in a non-printing text frame, with the LessonNumLast character style applied. 

(My character styles are in magenta so you can see where I applied the styles.)

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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That's a great help. It still means me counting lessons, but I should be up to that. Thank you!

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Community Expert ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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I might be able to figure out something with a paragraph number style, but I won't be able to look at it until next week. (I threw this together during class break...)

 

BTW, I marked @brianp311 answers correct too, since he basically said the same thing as I did.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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Community Expert ,
Feb 05, 2022 Feb 05, 2022

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Variables cannot pick up auto-paragraph numbers (nor can the TOC)--this feature has been asked for a long time.

 

The only improvement I could come up with was to auto apply the LessonNum style in the title using nested styles.

image.png

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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