GREP: Find paragraph after a specific paragraph style

Hi @Julian26070731n4t5 ,

There is in fact no way to include a specific paragraph style in a GREP expression.

In the format boxes below you can specify to search for a specific style onle, and replace with a specific style.

@FRIdNGE's solution is very clever (see @Peter Spier's explanation for how it works). But it doesn't allow for explicitly searching for style B that is followed by Style A, rather only for Style B when not preceded by Style B. Useful in some cases, and definitely an answer to the original question.

There is, in fact, no simple way, though, to change the style of one paragraph based on the style of a preceding paragraph in InDesign.

The "Next Style" feature that @Peter Spier suggests would only work if the sequence of styles is entirely regular, one paragraph per style.

Failing that, the simplest way is to use a script, which would do the job with great flexibility in a click or two.

I would recommend my own (https://www.id-extras.com/products/change-consecutive-paragraphs/) and I think there are other scripts available out there as well.

In your case, the rule I would set up (with my script) is:

If (1) Headline is followed by (2) Copytext, replace (1) with (3) [ignore] and (2) with (4) Subtitle.

Click "Execute" and your 500 pages are done with a single click.

You can also save that particular query for future use (and once you've got a few different queries saved, you can chain them together with the batch editor and apply them all to your next book with a single click!)

Ariel