Script to automatically assign existing text hyperlinks to the text frame they reside within instead

[Barry23053734dbr6]

Hi,

I've used the 'convert URL's to hyperlinks' command in InDeign to convert multiple URL's, all in their own text frames, to Hyperlinks. I'd rather the hyperlinks were assigned to the actual frames themselves, rather than the URL text within them. Is there a way to do this with a script?

I did find this script: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/how-to-change-automatically-frame-with-hyperlink... which says it will do this but it doesn't work (i get a string error). Can anyone help?

Thanks

[Robert Tkaczyk]

If you give us the error you are receiving - then maybe someone will be able to help you... we are not mind readers... 

[Barry23053734dbr6]

Sorry, here it is:

[Kasyan Servetsky · Accepted solution]

There's a mistake in the code. Here's a fixed version. I tried to make it more easy to understand.

if (app.documents.length > 0) main();

function main() {
	var hyperlink, sourceText, textFrame, storedName, newSource, newHyperlink,
	doc = app.activeDocument,	
	hyperlinks = doc.hyperlinks.everyItem().getElements();

	for (var i = 0; i < hyperlinks.length; i++) {
		hyperlink =hyperlinks[i];

		if (!hyperlink.source.hasOwnProperty("sourceText") || hyperlink.source.sourceText == undefined) continue;
		sourceText = hyperlink.source.sourceText;		
	
		textFrame = sourceText.parentTextFrames[0];
		storedName = hyperlink.name;
		newSource = doc.hyperlinkPageItemSources.add(textFrame);
		newHyperlink = doc.hyperlinks.add(newSource, hyperlink.destination);
		hyperlink.remove();
		
		 // clear the "Hyperlink" char style
		if (sourceText.appliedCharacterStyle.name == "Hyperlink") {
			sourceText.appliedCharacterStyle = doc.characterStyles.item("[None]");
			sourceText.clearOverrides();
		}
	
		newHyperlink.name = storedName;
	}
}

Before

After

[Barry23053734dbr6]

Thanks for that Kasyan.

Got this error now.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

This is not a start up script! Move it from the "Startup Scripts" to the "Scripts Panel" folder.

[Barry23053734dbr6]

Sorry about that, I'm a scripting novice, had no idea it made a difference.

I've moved into the "Scripts Panel" and get this error now.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

. 

[m1b]

Hi @Barry23053734dbr6, If you insert this line:

if (hyperlink.source.sourceText == undefined) continue;

 after:

hyperlink = hyperlinks[i];

It will ignore any hyperlinks that don't have sourceText. 

[Kasyan Servetsky]

I tested it against a very simple file shown on the screenshot. Did you try m1b's reccomendation?

[Barry23053734dbr6]

Hi Guys,
I put in m1b's extra line and it brought up the attached error.
The good news is though, it actually worked, all the text hyperlinks are now on their frames instead! Should I be worried about this error?

Cheers

[Kasyan Servetsky]

It's difficult for me to see what goes wrong without having a doc that causes the error.

I would try the following:

1) Change the line to:

if (typeof hyperlink.source.sourceText == "undefined") continue;

2) Enclose the line into a try-catch block so that if an error occurs, it skips the problematic hyperlink and goes on to the next one:

try {
	if (hyperlink.source.sourceText == undefined) continue;
}
catch(err) {
	continue;
}

[Barry23053734dbr6]

Hi Kasyan,

The previous version does look like the answer. Don't know why it came up with the error on my first example but but there's been no error on the other versions I've done since and has worked a treat!
Thanks for all your help guys!

[m1b]

Sorry, this is what I should have written for the check:

if (
    !hyperlink.source.hasOwnProperty('sourceText')
    || hyperlink.source.sourceText == undefined
)
    continue;

[m1b]

It would be nice to have a clean answer for future readers of this thread. @Kasyan Servetsky, if you update your code in your initial answer I will mark it as correct. Hopefully I will be notified. - Mark

[Kasyan Servetsky]

Hi Mark,

I updated the code.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

I reworked the script a little and posted it here on my site.

1. Now it marks — via insertLabel() — ‘processed’ text frames so if a frame has 2+ hyperlinks it won’t throw an error.
2. Enclosed adding a new source into a try-catch block to avoid “The object you have chosen is already in use by another hyperlink.” errors.

[m1b]

Thanks Kasyan, that's a great addition.

[IvoryCC]

Hi @Kasyan Servetsky 

So I downloaded your script and tried to run it on Indesign 2023, this script was working sometimes, but sometimes was not working, do you have any idea why? and there's no error message popup...please help. Thank you very much!

[Robert Tkaczyk]

If I may pitch in - I think you should do re-processing of the already processed TextFrame - in case link in the text has been changed?

Unless you switch from using hidden Label - Insert/ExtractLabel - to the visible one so user can remove it manually and re-run script?