Script to replace images with their names

[debraleag]

I'm exporting text from an InDesign file to rtf, for an author who only works in Word to use when writing the next edition of a book. 

I would like the text export to contain the filename of inline images instead of (or in addition to?) the image preview that currently exports. 

I can find lots of "replace text with an image" scripts but not the other way around. Does anyone know of such a thing?

[Mike Bro]

Hello debraleag,

Can you post the code you're currently using for the export?

Regards,

Mike

[debraleag]

Hi Mike -- Not using any code, just straight-up selecting the text and choosing Export... as Rich Text Format.

[Derek Cross]

Would this be of use to you?

https://www.recosoft.com/products/id2office/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PD3BRDPARIsAN8pHuHNV7MhAqscCL4VRyFg-0jp8...

[debraleag]

Thank you, Derek. I have done some testing with that plugin but unfortunately it doesn't export the image names.

[Peter Kahrel]

Here's a simple script to replace inline images with their names:

links = app.documents[0].links.everyItem().getElements();
for (i = links.length-1; i >= 0; i--) {
   ip = links[i].parent.parent.parent.insertionPoints[0];
   ip.contents = '<link>' + links[i].name + '</link>';
   links[i].parent.parent.remove();
}

It deals only with straightfoward inlines. The codes <link> and </link> you can change to anything that catches your fancy.

P.

[debraleag]

Thank you, Peter! It mostly worked until arriving at a less-than-straightforward anchored, grouped image. Then it threw off this error and declined to go any further. Any suggestions for a tweak? 

JavaScript Error!

Error Number: 55
Error String: Object does not support the property or method 'insertionPoints'

Engine: main
File: /Applications/Adobe InDesign 2020/Scripts/Scripts Panel/Samples/JavaScript/Image-to-Name.jsx
Line: 7
Source:    ip = links[i].parent.parent.parent.insertionPoints[0];

[brianp311 · Accepted solution]

Maybe something like this? 

var links = app.documents[0].links.everyItem().getElements();
for (i = links.length-1; i >= 0; i--) {
   try {
       var target = links[i].parent.parent.parent;
       var ip = target.insertionPoints[0];
       ip.contents = '<link>' + links[i].name + '</link>';
       links[i].parent.parent.remove();
   } catch(e) {
       if (target.constructor.name == "Group") {
           target = links[i].parent.parent.parent.parent;
           ip = target.insertionPoints[0];
           ip.contents = '<link>' + links[i].name + '</link>';
           links[i].parent.parent.parent.remove();
       }
   }
}

[debraleag]

Brilliant! Thank you so much. 

[brianp311]

My pleasure, though Peter did the heavy lifting 🙂 . For additional error handling, you could add an "else" statement to the catch block that alerted the link name so that you could identify which ones don't successfully convert. 

[rob day]

Hi Brian, it would be possible to have any number of nested groups, which might be a problem with the 4 parent target?

Another approach would be to check all page items with a while loop to drill down through the groups. Something like this:

var pi = app.documents[0].allPageItems;

for(i = 0; i < pi.length; i++){
    //gets all document images
    if (pi[i].constructor.name == "Image") {
        var par = pi[i].parent;
        //checks the parents all the way to the Application object
        while (par.constructor.name != "Application") {
            par = par.parent;
            if (par.constructor.name == "Story") {
                par.insertionPoints[0].contents = '<link>' + pi[i].itemLink.name + '</link>';
                pi[i].parent.remove();
            }
        }
    } 
}