 I'm typesetting a volume of correspondence. I would like to have the address set flush right with the text frame and the date immediately under it but aligned flush left with the beginning of the address:
In this instance, I've set the address with a right-align tab and the date with a manually adjusted tab to align beneath it. But I would like to somewhat automate this, as I can't manually adjust every instance.
What I had planned to do was to insert an "indent to here" marker at the beginning of the address line, but this doesn't work: for some reason, it forces the following text out of the bounds of the text frame:
This may be a bug or it may be a feature; either way, it doesn't work for what I need to do here. I feel like this should be fairly straightforward, but nothing I have tried works. Any tips or workarounds would be appreciated. I'm using the latest InDesign on a MacBook Pro.
All best,
Sudhaus
1 Correct answer
The indent to here marker can produce unexpected results—I’m not sure why it’s not working with the right indent tab.
The indent for the 2nd line could be scripted so that it matches the horizontal position of the address line. Something like this where you put your cursor anywhere in the address line and run the script, which could be assigned a key command:
var sel = app.documents.item(0).selection[0];
var ho = sel.parent.paragraphs[sel.paragraphs[0].index].insertionPoints[1].horizontalO
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Replies
Set it in a separate text frame
and set the auto width from the right as per below
Anchor your text frame in your overall text frame.
Cut the frame.
Place the text cursor into the letter text frame
Paste
It's now anchored.
you can right align it and add more text and the text frame will grow
The indent to here marker can produce unexpected results—I’m not sure why it’s not working with the right indent tab.
The indent for the 2nd line could be scripted so that it matches the horizontal position of the address line. Something like this where you put your cursor anywhere in the address line and run the script, which could be assigned a key command:
var sel = app.documents.item(0).selection[0];
var ho = sel.parent.paragraphs[sel.paragraphs[0].index].insertionPoints[1].horizontalOffset;
var np = sel.parent.paragraphs[sel.paragraphs[0].index+1];
var npi = np.insertionPoints[0].horizontalOffset;
np.rightIndent = npi-ho;
Note there needs to be a right indent tab before the address and a full return between the two lines:
@rob day That script worked perfectly for me, terrific, thanks! Great to have for future applications. I also created a paragraph style specifically for the location and date text, which might be helpful should just that portion of text ever need to be changed and as a find tag.
@rob day ... Hmmm. It's just a style with right alignment for those two sentences. Then, I manually inserted an "indent to here marker in front of the first character in the first line (which moves the marker to the center of the line and doesn't work as we know). Then ran your script and the result is correct. So it wouldn't matter how long the length of the first line is as far as I can see?
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