Script to change bulleted and numbered lists to text without converting the Paragraph Styles

[SweatersInSummer]

I've seen a posts here about using the "Convert Bullets to Text" contextual option in text as well the method app.activeDocument.stories.everyItem().convertBulletsAndNumberingToText(); however neither is satifactory so ive been writing a script to change the copy in a document that has a bullet or number list style applied to converted text, but i'm having trouble figuring out how to script  going through the text, identifying the ones with specific paragraph styles ( there are 6 styles, all set within two layers of groupings: Body Styles [group] > Lists [group] > Bullet lvl 1 [style].

heres what ive tried to so, but i realized that it was converting the whole style not the text with the style.

var bul1 = doc.paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Body Styles" ).paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Lists" ).paragraphStyles.itemByName( "Bullet lvl 1" );

var bul2 = doc.paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Body Styles" ).paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Lists" ).paragraphStyles.itemByName( "Bullet lvl 2" );

var bul3 = doc.paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Body Styles" ).paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Lists" ).paragraphStyles.itemByName( "Bullet lvl 3" );

var num1 = doc.paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Body Styles" ).paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Lists" ).paragraphStyles.itemByName( "Num List lvl 1" );

var num2 = doc.paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Body Styles" ).paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Lists" ).paragraphStyles.itemByName( "Num List lvl 2" );

var num3 = doc.paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Body Styles" ).paragraphStyleGroups.itemByName( "Lists" ).paragraphStyles.itemByName( "Num List lvl 3" );

// app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = bul1;

// bul1.convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();

// app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = bul2;

// bul2.convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();

// app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = bul3;

// bul3.convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();

// app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = num1;

// num1.convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();

// app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = num2;

// num2.convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();

// app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = num3;

// num3.convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();

// alert('Bullet lvl 1, 2, 3 and Number List lvl 1, 2, 3 converted to text.')

[SweatersInSummer]

all those bottom lines are shown as commented out, i just forgot to un-comment them before posting but when active they convert the entire style to text, removing the list formatting entirely, and 

[Robert Tkaczyk]

You can go back and re-edit your original post - there is no time limit.

[SweatersInSummer]

I dont see any option to edit a post or comment, am i just completely missing it?

[Peter Kahrel]

Click '. . . More' and one of the options is 'Edit message'.

[SweatersInSummer]

I don't see that option on any of posts or comments. under my post i have: views, translate, report, follow, and reply. would be labeled as community beginner effect the options on posts i have?

[Peter Kahrel]

I've no idea.

[rob day]

Hi @SweatersInSummer , I think you need to loop through the paragraphs and remove the overrides that are created when you change the paragraph styles—paragraph.clearOverrides()

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign-latest/#Paragraph.html#d1e501544__d1e508156

[Peter Kahrel · Accepted solution]

Rather than using InDesign's Find to look for styles, you may be better off cycling through paragraphs and checking their style names. Something like this:

par = doc.stories.everyItem().paragraphs.everyItem().getElements();
re = /(Bullet|Num) lvl [123]/;
for (i = 0; i < par.length; i++) {
  if (re.test (par[i].appliedParagraphStyle.name)) {
    // do something
  }
}

Peter

[SweatersInSummer]

This was the answer i was circling around, thank you Peter. I was trying to loop through the paragraphs but had difficulty figuring out the correct syntax to access the .paragraphs, but the InDesign Object Model on indesignjs.de is kind of difficult to understand at times. for posterity my final code looks like:

var doc = app.activeDocument;

par = doc.stories.everyItem().paragraphs.everyItem().getElements();
re = /(Bullet|Num List) lvl [123]/;
for (i = 0; i < par.length; i++) {
  if (re.test (par[i].appliedParagraphStyle.name)) {
    par[i].convertBulletsAndNumberingToText();
  }
}

alert('Bullet lvl 1, 2, 3 and Number List lvl 1, 2, 3 converted to text.')