Export Titles and Page numbers to Excel or .CSV

[andyjamieson]

Hey!

I have a INDD file that has it's content flowed in from an XML, each field has a Tag and a Paragraph style applied to it.

I need to see if I can export a report of the Titles and what Page Number corresponds to each one, an Excel Or .CSV file would be ideal.

Anyone have any clues on who to do this from InDesign?

Thanks!

[Mike Witherell]

Why not generate a table of contents and then copy paste that text into a spreadsheet?

[rob day]

Hi @andyjamieson , A script could get every paragraph with a certain style applied and write the paragraph’s contents and its page number to a text or cvs file. Something like this gets all paragraphs with the style named Title and writes a Titles.cvs file to the desktop:

var sName = "Title"
var doc = app.activeDocument
var txt = "Title\tPage Number\r"

for(var i=0; i <doc.stories.length; i++){  
    var s = doc.stories.item(i);  
    for(var j=0; j < s.paragraphs.length; j++){  
        var p=s.paragraphs.item(j); 
        if (p.appliedParagraphStyle.name == sName ) {
            txt += p.contents.slice(0,-1) + "\t" + p.parentTextFrames[0].parentPage.name + "\r"
        } 
    }  
}  

writeText(Folder.desktop + "/Titles.csv", txt)

function writeText(p,s){
    var file = new File(p);
    file.encoding = 'UTF-8';
    file.open('w');
    file.write(s);
    file.close();
}

[andyjamieson]

Hey @rob day 

That looks ideal, when I tried to create my own JSX script I get this error —

Here's an example of a listing with the file 

[rob day]

Can you share the ID file? You should be able to attach it.

[andyjamieson]

I've packaged one of the shorter sections, it's 20MB zipped so stuck it on Dropbox — 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/we2visxw34142r9/Fringe_Programme_2022_EXHIBITIONS_v2%20Folder.zip?dl=0

Thank you for your help!

[rob day]

I should have clarified the first line in the sample script is the ParagraphStyle name to get—you don’t have a style named "Title", so if I use your "B_RuleShowName" style:

var sName = "B_RuleShowName"
var doc = app.activeDocument
var txt = "Title\tPage Number\r"
var pn;

for(var i=0; i <doc.stories.length; i++){  
    var s = doc.stories.item(i);  
    for(var j=0; j < s.paragraphs.length; j++){  
        var p=s.paragraphs.item(j); 
        if (p.appliedParagraphStyle.name == sName ) {
            pn = p.parentTextFrames[0].parentPage.name
            txt += p.lines[0].contents.slice(0,-1) + "\t" + p.parentTextFrames[0].parentPage.name + "\r"
        } 
    }  
}  

writeText(Folder.desktop + "/Titles.csv", txt)

function writeText(p,s){
    var file = new File(p);
    file.encoding = 'UTF-8';
    file.open('w');
    file.write(s);
    file.close();
}

I get this (note in this version I’m getting the first line of the title for the Title column):

[rob day]

Here’s the above code compiled:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/a1fa5ed9-05f0-4e18-508e-5cd1cc1a4989

[andyjamieson]

Excellent job Rob, just tried the script on a different file section it's throwning an error for Line 11

Will the script need slightly adjust for each file?

[rob day]

Will the script need slightly adjust for each file?

Yes if the header’s style name changes.

Also, if a text frame is on the pasteboard you would get that null error. This would set the page number to "PB" if the frame is not actually on a page. I updated the compiled link same address:

var sName = "B_RuleShowName"
var doc = app.activeDocument
var txt = "Title\tPage Number\r"
var pn;

for(var i=0; i <doc.stories.length; i++){  
    var s = doc.stories.item(i);  
    for(var j=0; j < s.paragraphs.length; j++){  
        var p=s.paragraphs.item(j); 
        if (p.appliedParagraphStyle.name == sName ) {
            if (p.parentTextFrames[0].parentPage != null) {
                pn = p.parentTextFrames[0].parentPage.name
            } else {
                pn = "PB"
            }
            try {
                txt += p.lines[0].contents.slice(0,-1) + "\t" + pn + "\r"
            }catch(e) {}  
        } 
    }  
}  

writeText(Folder.desktop + "/Titles.csv", txt)

function writeText(p,s){
    var file = new File(p);
    file.encoding = 'UTF-8';
    file.open('w');
    file.write(s);
    file.close();
}