InDesign

[Debbie5C60]

InDesign - Navigation from TOC to specific page using hyperlinks does not work if the TOC contains tabs in the text. If I remove the tabs it's fine ??

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from cc desktop">

[Willi Adelberger]

Where do you insert the tabs?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Echoing Willi's question here — why are there tabs in your TOC entries (other than those inserted by the TOC process, as to position page numbers, etc.)? I can't think of a good reason you'd be selecting material with tabs for TOC use; there is probably a more standard way to get the formatting you want without using tabs in, say,. Chapter Headings.

(As for the 'why,' it's probably because tabs are not used in online content  — browsers don't support them, for example — and this carries back to things like the standard formation of hyperlinks. The tab character is probably included, but is invalid; or, the link process omits the tab, which leads to a mismatch.)

[Debbie5C60]

I am working from a supplied template which has been set up with the TOC: page number / tab / page title. If I keep this with the tab btween page number and title the hyperlink to that page doesn't work. If I replace this with spaces instead it's fine. Can I keep the tabs and make the hyperlink work? Thanks

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Well, that TOC method fundamentally works if the TOC style is set up to put the page number before the text entry. So something else is interfering with the process.

What format are you exporting the document to, using hyperlinks? PDF or EPUB? Also, what reader are you using to view/proof the document?

Just as a general note, templates are often riddled with structural and formatting problems, or  are "fragile" in some way so that using an otherwise valid combination of formatting breaks something. These faults can usually be resolved, but may trace to some fairly deep design method or excessively 'tricky' layout involving features like GREP styles or quirky use of list features. Since you didn't design it, and thus may not know what goes into a particular element's style components, it may take a few rounds to isolate the problem.

ETA: I just did a quick test to validate the TOC process (sometimes, there are actual problems with the slightly nonstandard variations such as page numbers on the left). But both a left-number and right-number TOC worked fine. That's in a PDF export.

(ETA2: and in EPUB, using Calibre Reader.)