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A
Abhishek Ravi
Known Participant
December 5, 2023
Question

Bullets, numbers, and multilevel lists Feature Need Easy to Home Bar

  • December 5, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 1090 views

Bullets, numbers, and multilevel lists are already provided in indesign but for more work

It has to be made, can't indesign make it easier like everything given in MSWord is automatic... When we type question papers, it should be on automatic number and after entering Tab, ABCD then enter the number twice. But... and this tool should be in the paragraph Home properties... Please make it easier so that it becomes easier to create bullets, numbers, and multilevel lists and more people can use this feature. Well this work is done but it needs to be made easier

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    4 replies

    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Legend
    December 6, 2023

    Not sure what do you mean?

     

    It is as simple as it can be...

     

    And I prefer to be IN CONTROL - not that WORD is "trying" to help me - when I don't need its help ...

     

    In InDesign - just create ParaStyle with Numbering and assign a keyboard shortcut...

     

    If you really need it to behave like that - I could add this in my tool - but you would have to be working on a PC...

     

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      December 6, 2023

      ,,,not that WORD is "trying" to help me - when I don't need its help...

       

      And won't help even when asked. I just wrapped up a contract where the client used deep numbering for technical documents, meaning I spent several months trying repeatedly to set up a "multi-level list" that would maintain the numbering format and indent throughout a project, especially when trying to develop and use a template for serial doc creation. No matter how many times I started afresh, looked up tutorial details, and carefully set up that MLL, it would break every time I tried to adjust intends or reset a section to 'Start numbering at 1.' If there is any way to edit such a list after creation, in any sensible fashion, I never found it.

       

      The whole separation between the "super E Z" bullets and numbering and the "multi level list" feature makes what should be even simpler than ID's approach nearly useless unless you work in the standard Word mode of simply fixing broken indents etc. on an individual basis... and then those will all get broken again if you make any change to the list. Maddening idiocy.

        E
        Community Expert
        Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 6, 2023

        Plenty of complex numbering issues in InDesign - inexplicably breaking the numbering where it shouldn't and there's no reason for it. 

        InDesign does it well, but it's rather hidden and unintuitive. 

        P
        Community Expert
        Peter KahrelCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 6, 2023

        > InDesign is a typesetting and page layout tool for design, it's not a Word Processor. 

        > If you're typing up documents it's better to use a Word Processor.

         

        I find InDesign an excellent authoring tool, much more useful than Word. Style handling is much more straightforward, better keyboard configurability, etc. etc. And even if you write in Word then place in ID, you still usually have some clean-up to do. (E.g. in Word, when you select a word by double-clicking it and if the word is followed by a space, then the space is added to the selection. Very annoying.)

         

        What James mentioned about bulleted lists goes for the whole lot in my experience.

        E
        Community Expert
        Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 6, 2023

        Yeh - there's no right or wrong way to approach it. 

        I've successfully written many articles using Word and imported to InDesign flawlessly.

         

        And I've created Word templates that was used by over 40 authors to submit articles for magazines etc. 

         

        There's a place for everything, just a workflow that works for you.

        If you're comfortable typing in Word then use that.

        If you're comfortable typing in InDesign then use that.

         

        But doesn't change that Word is a word processor, and InDesign is design and page layout. 

        Right tool for the job. Whatever is right for you is right for you.

         

        If you want automatic bullets/numering when typing like what can happenin Word - then you can use Word.

        Or setup styles in inDesign and use that. 

         

         

        A
        Abhishek RaviAuthor
        Known Participant
        December 7, 2023

        It is not a matter of using it or not, it is just that if this software also had such features then this software would have been even better... If a little power of word processing was given to it then the rest would have become better. ..there is no comparison to the rest of this software

        James Gifford—NitroPress
        James Gifford—NitroPress
        Legend
        December 5, 2023

        I find Word's management of multilevel lists, and the accompanying menus and 'style' lists, to be somewhere between erratic-clumsy and outright user torture.

         

        Don't mistake a process you're familiar with for one that should be emulated by other apps. InDesign's implementation could use some polishing but it's MUCH more straightforward and predictable than Word's.

          E
          Community Expert
          Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          December 5, 2023

          InDesign is a typesetting and page layout tool for design, it's not a Word Processor. 

          If you're typing up documents it's better to use a Word Processor.

          Then when you are happy with your content you import to InDesign. 

           

          You then use InDesign to layout your pages, and design - utilising all the Paragraph Styles, Character Styles and everything else. 

           

          A properly formated Word Document would be a great way to start utilising Paragraph and Character Styles from there and trasferring to InDesign would give you a better focal point to begin the layout and production design of the document. 

           

          You can find templates online - like here
          https://creativepro.com/indesign-template-essentials-bullets-numbering/

          As a starting point

           

          ===================

          You can also make a feature request
          https://indesign.uservoice.com/


          But I certainly don't want to hit <TAB> and a bullet or numbering starts happening when I don't want it to. 

          But I guess if htere's enough support for it.

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