Automatically changing references to page numbers within a text.

[Colin48]

I am writing a version of a book for print, it has a couple of hundred pages, these are automatically numbered by my InDesign CS5. On many pages I need to refer the reader to other pages in the book. However, the book neds to be continuously adapted and changed so that what was, say, page 100 becomes page 104. How can I put page numbers into the text which will automatically update themselves as the book's pages change their numbers?

[Colin48]

Typo, that should read "However, the book needs to be..."

[SJRiegel · Accepted solution]

Cross-References should do what you need.

[Colin48]

Thanks SJRiegel, I thought so too. And maybe I am being slow, but I think the problem is slightly different. I found it quite hard to express exactly. Maybe an imaginary example would help, this is preparing a document for paper printing.

On page 100 I might have written:

"Readers may wish to see allied material on page 42, and material about sea squids on page 131. There is also something of interest on page 167."

I then find I need to insert anothe pair of pages at page 85, so 131 now needs to read 133 and 167 now should be 169. The page numbering is fine as it is looked after by InDesign, however those two references need to be updated. So what I need is a way of putting InDesign's page holding reference in place of plain numbers. This happens several times on each page, and I need to prepare the text before all the pages are in place. I know the easy answer is don't do it. But I feel there should be a way of putting place holders to refer to the constantly updated page numbers, but maybe there is not?

Thanks anyway

Colin

[Martrese-KinderCare]

Colin, did you find a solution for this? I'd like to accomplish the same task and I'm having trouble finding a solution.

[Joel Cherney]

@SJRiegel's  link had 100% of the answer you are looking for. If you scroll down a bit in that link, you'll see that you can insert a wide variety of types of cross-reference. What I personally do, when I'm trying to do what Colin described two years ago, is this:

First, I insert a Hyperlink Destination in the target. In Colin's example text, I'd go to page 131 and Insert a New Hyperlink Destination right next to the words about sea squids, and I'd choose a Text Anchor from the dropdown, and I'd call it Sea Squids.

Then, I'd go back to page 100, and delete "131", and go to Insert Cross-Reference. I'd choose "Text Anchor" and, in the "Text Anchor" dropdown, I'd choose "Sea Squids." Then, in the Cross-Reference Format, I'd choose "Page Number" and click the little pencil icon to edit it, if necessary. The default Page Number xref format includes the word "page" so I'd delete that so that the Page Number xref format was just <pageNum/>.

So, the cross-reference on page 100 will remain in place, so long as the text anchor isn't deleted. It is a zero-width hidden character, so if you don't work with hidden characters then accidental deletion is a possibility. Here's a screenshot:

See the two little blue dots right before the "p" in "portfolio"? That's the text anchor. The cross-reference, when updated, will point to the page that has that marker. So if you add 2 pages to the beginning of the document, then after updating the xref, it'd say "material about sea squids on page 133."

See the very fine lines around the number 1? That's indicating that it's a live cross-reference.

[Martrese-KinderCare]

Gah! It's magnificent!!! I wish I'd looked into this feature sooner. Would've saved me tons of time. Thanks for your reply.