Skip to main content
irama57948095
irama57948095
Inspiring
February 1, 2023
Answered

TOC, pictures and text

  • February 1, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 1663 views

I need to create a TOC for an ebook in InDesign but I have Part openers that are images with text on them.

 

How can I get that text into the TOC without it separating into the image and the text on different pages? I've put the text on there in Photoshop but then it doesn't get picked up by the TOC. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer James Gifford—NitroPress

Even if I make the text invisible it still creates an extra page in the ebook for the text.


Two tweaks: make the anchor paragraph leading 0, and anchor the image to the END of the anchor paragraph. With that, making the image appear on the same page becomes entirely a matter of the image size in the EPUB reader. If it is full page height, leaving not even that smidge of room for the anchor paragraph, one or the other will break to the next page.

 

To be safe, I'd keep the Part image at about 2/3 page height, relative to the margin width. That should leave enough slack that all readers keep it on the actual anchor paragraph page.

 

You will want to experiment with the image sizing options in the Object Export Options menu (right click on the image frame), to override the global option set at export. You should be able to get a full-width, maximum height Part image with one or another setting there... but keep in mind that the result will be reader, and user-settings, dependent.

 

3 replies

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Peter SpierCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 1, 2023

You can add a NON-Printing text frame to your page and set the correct header text in that. I make those big and red, myself, so they are obvious.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    February 1, 2023

    I'm not completely sure this works for EPUB.

     

    In some quick tests, if a layer is tagged non-printing, it will not show up in a dynamic EPUB TOC. If it's made printing, it shows up but the unattached frame falls to the end of the document. I can see how this would work for printed documents, where the TOC can be generated and then the layer hidden, but in all variations of generating the TOC and then hiding the layer, no TOC is included in the EPUB.

     

    I may be missing some workable combination, but it struck me as something I once tested (probably on your mention of the technique) and found it nonworking for EPUB.

     

    Is there a detail I'm missing here?

     

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    February 1, 2023

    If you were asking me, I don't do epub at all, so I defer to your expertise. Works great for print...


    Yes, as noted. I have other tricks when this sort of hidden or meta text is needed, but nonprint layers are great for print TOCs that need to hook into locations with no live text.

     

    But EPUBs are their usual fussy selves, here. 🙂

     

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    February 1, 2023

    Manal is correct. No form of export I know of, including EPUB, can read content from placed images, even if the content is live text.

     

    A workaround might be to anchor your part headers to a text line with the TOC info in it, set to a microscopic text size (1pt), color it white, or both. With some tweaking, that text insert will be invisible but will allow you to create a TOC link.

     

    Putting essential text in image form is not a good practice for digital output (EPUB, HTML, etc.) for precisely this reason. You just can't get away with a visual-only layout as you can for print.

     

      irama57948095
      irama57948095Author
      Inspiring
      February 1, 2023

      I did have it all as threaded text in the print file but was trying to find a way to keep the text on the image for the epub hence the photoshop file. I'll try this way and report back. Thanks. 

      manal shanableh
      manal shanableh
      Legend
      February 1, 2023

      there is no way, for TOC you have to identify the needed toc cotet as paragraph style, must have a text..  TOC cannot recognize a style from placed psd file.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices