batch layer visibility for selected instances?

[rathaus]

As part of my workflow I am often changing the layer visibility options on some (but not all) instances of the same object. I was looking at the batch_layer_visibility script by crazypanda and it almost does what I need, but it can only change every instance without finer control. Does anyone know of another existing script where you could either select just the objects you want to change, or apply the change to a specific range of pages? Or know how to modify this one to do this/have tips on how I could do it? I have some baseline scripting knowledge but I haven't made anything for indesign before. here's a link to the one I'm using now. Thanks!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

If you work on Windows - you could use my ID-Tasker tool - which isn't free but I can give you access to the full version for free for a few days.

You can then modify your objects very selectively - by layer, size, location, applied ObjectStyle, formatting, etc.

And you can save all the steps and quickly run the same operations on another INDD file. 

[rathaus]

I work on mac but I have a virtual machine for windows, I could try it out on that. That sounds like it would save me an insane amount of time in a bunch of different areas so if it works I could see myself switching over

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@rathaus

If you can switch to Windows - you should ASAP 😄

With my tool - you'll be able to save even more time that you could ever imagine 😉 

Whatever you can click - my tool can click for you - including Photoshop, Illustrator, WORD, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. and in the system itself - you can copy files and upload to / download from FTP server.

And more 😉 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@rathaus

And you can, of course, control visibility of layers in the linked assets AND in the InDesign itself - so if you've multilingual documents...

And I've just finished Text Variables on steroids... You could just rename your file - like "param1_param2_param3.indd" and each part will be used separately - with an option to have different formatting in different places - main text, Running Header, table, specific cell in the table, etc. 

And then, of course, you can rename multiple files like that and sit back and relax 😉 IDT will open those files, process them and spit out new PDFs to a specific folder / FTP server 😉 

[rathaus]

I just checked out your website and it does seem powerful but it's way too expensive for me to consider using.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

I think it's rather cheap as chips? You only pay when you need to use it. 

Just divide weekly / monthly token's price per number of hours something would take you to do...

Then - think that my tool will do it 10-100x quicker... 

Then, take into consideration - that you don't have to waste time checking if it has been done correctly... 

And you can either work less - or make more money... 

It's like when you use ParaStyles or ObjectStyles - one click and done.

Or you've 1000+ files to process... You can leave it overnight... So it's like having extra co-worker 😉 

[rathaus]

Unless I am misunderstanding your pricing structure, your plugin costs more than the adobe creative cloud. I'm not paying for paragraph styles every time I use it, and if adobe made me I would probably stop using indesign. I'm happy to pay for a script that someone worked hard on but I would never do that on a subscription basis.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@rathaus 

You're paying to save time and do more - and it's not a subscription(*).

Yes, someone can write you a simple script - for free or not - but every time you'll need some changes or new functionality - you have to ask the coder and wait.

With my tool - as long as you know how to use InDesign - you can code yourself - save all the manual steps you do as a Task.

Here is an example:

All the steps in this video - are the manual steps you would've to do anyway - and instead of clicking all those steps - on every Table, over and over again - you can save them and run them any time you want. Also, you can do what is missing in the Cell / Table Styles - you can save width / height.

And all shown in this video - is still available for free.

The paid part - that I haven't shown in this video - BatchMode - you could load all Tables from the document - and style them with one click - without the need to select each Table separately. 

You can of course limit the scope by filtering Layers, or applied Cell / Table Styles, or any formatting of any Cell, etc.

Then, you could process multiple documents - still using exactly the same Task - style all the Tables automatically. And after each file is processed - my tool can automatically export PDF - or JPEG, ePUB, etc.

(*) it's not an ongoing subscription - you only pay when you use it - you can re-organize your work so you can prepare multiple jobs - and then finish them in one week. Most likely you'll do them in a day or two 😉 but right now I'm not selling daily licenses. Or you can use my tool to prepare some files - then send them for corrections or something - and you don't have to pay for my tool when waiting for the files to come back. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@rathaus

Also, thanks to my tool - you've a direct access to the complete internal structure of the Document - every object, every glyph, every cell in a table.

You no longer have to scroll through Pages to find something - you can just load information and double click in the bottom part of my tool - Browser part - and go to the clicked  object / glyph / Cell / table and have it selected - instantly. 

Or you want to do a preflight - make sure that specific objects are in the right place or have specific style / formatting applied. Just load, then sort / filter and quickly locate potential problems. 

And all of the above - is still completely FREE.