find format not working

[carlanem]

Hello

I have an Indesign document filled with a text imported from a word file. It contains text styles imported from that word file along with others specific to the .indd. Searching for any text (leaving the search field blank) formatted in a specified way (namely the left indent) leads to no search results, although there clearly are paragraphs with that indent. Deleting the imported styles changes nothing. The same search mode works flawlessly in other documents.

Any hint will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Anna Lander]

could you please share the Find/Change window? There might be an additional search condition that you did not notice or something else. And, if possible, the Paragraph Styles panel.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Did the indents convert to spaces when the file was imported?

[Jongware]

Did you copy the exact digits into the Find field for "Left Indent" that appear when you inspect such a paragraph?

Then, some bad news. (Well... partly.) InDesign is spectacularly more accurate than the paltry 5-or-so digits that you can see in the User Interface. I could say "by a factor of about a million" and it would sound like a hyperbole, but it is vastly more accurate than that (it would imply 6 more digits, while in reality it is something like 20).

Fortunately, the programmers decided to hide that from us in regular use. I would not care to know what my leading is in umpteen significant digits. For a slightly overseen example, check the scaling fields in the control bar – there are hugely accurate numbers in there, even though most digits  are hidden beyond the right edge of the input field.

But it's a pain if you want to search for such an unknown value. A small JavaScript can help:

    app.findWhat.leftIndent = app.selection[0].leftIndent

Save in the usual place (your own Scripts folder), click the text cursor inside a paragraph with the desired left indent, then double-click the script to run. You will find the value inside the Find dialog is updated.

[carlanem]

Dear all,

thanks for your swift replies. First, here the Find/Replace dialogue along with some others:

Then: No, as far as I can see, indents didn't convert to spaces. The paragraph palette shows an indent, and the display of hidden characters reveals none.

Jongware, that's good to know. The script doesn't seem to work yet — in InDesign CC2014, I get

Would you have any clue why?

Thanks again!

[Jongware · Accepted solution]

Yes, sorry typed from memory, and it should actually be

app.findTextPreferences.leftIndent = app.selection[0].leftIndent

("findWhat" holds only the text string that you'd enter in the Find dialog. But that would still need the full "findTextPreferences" before it.)

[carlanem]

Right, that way the script works. Thanks. And really now the search yields results—in some cases. The case I started out from still won't let itself be found, no clue why. It's not that terribly important since it works in those other cases. (I could find a way to upload the faulty .indd if you're curious, but there's really no need).

Thanks a lot so far!

[Willi Adelberger]

could it be, that the left intent is not exactly that value? The dialog box may represent only a rounded value. It happens often when the orignal value roots in inches but is shown metric. Mybe it works when you change to inches or point during find and replace?