Is there an easy way to link text boxes/sections/content AFTER file has been created?

[Melissa Farr]

I am a book designer and have a new client who uses a 3rd party ebook conversion company who wants the file to be continuous text. I link all content within chapters, but not ALL the text in the entire book. Is there an easy way to do this after the book is complete? I've never had this request before and can't find an easy way to do it. I have manually done it, but I had to spend time adjusting the spacing because when you link the boxes, it pulls the text back into the prior box if there is space at the end of the page/box. (I tried Stitch-Fix but it messed up some of the flow.) Any ideas appreciated since I will be doing more work with this client. Thanks in advance!

[BobLevine]

If you set the paragraph settings properly, this shouldn't be an issue. The chapter titles should always start in a new frame.

BTW, a single continuous text flow is recommended for EPUB. There's nothing unusual about this request.

[Melissa Farr]

I  always put chapter titles in a new frame and then the content for that chapter is all linked. But it isn't linked between chapters. Your saying it's normal to create a (print) book as one continuous text file? That would be a nighmare where edits are concerned with text reflowing everywhere. They want to be able to do a select all and grab all the content from the file in one motion for their conversion. I do understand that the final result of the epub is continuous but I didn't think it was normal for it to start this way. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Kind of a workaround would be to export as HTML... 

Depends on the contents and how complicated your document is - location of the extra texts - it may be ok / a bit messy / very messy... 

[BobLevine]

When the book is intended to be an EPUB, yes, one continues text flow. And the chapter heads should be set to start in a new frame at that paragraph style level.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

There are some 3rd party tools to do this - but if you prefer to this manually - you need to use NumPad Enter in the previous TextFrame - it will insert "next text frame break" that will prevent text going back to the previous TextFrame. 

Or you could set it as a property for the ParaStyle - start in the next TextFrame - but it may not always be a right choice AFTER the book has been finished.

[Melissa Farr]

Thank you. The NumPad Enter thing may be what I have to do for the books I've already created. I'll try the other option for new files.