Typographic and tab control in Table of Contents?

[turner111]

I have a book layout; for the TOC, among other things, I'm including author, story title, and page #. Generally, these three things will all appear on a single line. In the body, each has its own paragraph style.

However, I'm having trouble figuring out if there's a way to build a TOC style where they all end up with the same style, on the same line (where possible) and with tabs between.

Is there a way to set this up?

Could swear I saw this before (without a plugin) but can't remember where...

thanks

[Willi Adelberger]

Instead of creating a TOC, use cross references.

[turner111]

Thanks Willi - any link to a guide on how to do this?
I've only ever used cross-references for... well, you know 😉

[Willi Adelberger]

Cross references can be done via paragraphs with a specific paragrpaph style. 

But wait, I have a workaround:

1. Create textvariables based on your paragraph styles.
2. Insert a paragraph, give it a specific paragraph style, it works like a running header, but it should be a distinctive style and it should NOT be on the master.
3. In this paragraph insert the text variables.
4. Copy this paragraph after every headline texts which are supposed to be in the toc. Maybe on a different layer.
5. Create the toc based on these paragraphs.
6. At the end schange the character color of this paragraph style to none. // Or make the layer non-print.

[Barb Binder]

InDesign can't put two paragraphs on the same line—so author and story title will be two paragraphs in the TOC—unless you put them in a single paragarph on the body pages separated by a line break. Might work, might not—depends on the opening chapter layout. Otherwise, @Willi Adelberger is right—create a table of contents using x-refs and not the table of contents feature. It's a little longer to set up, but will be easy to update, just like a traditional TOC.

~Barb 

[turner111]

Thanks Barb - the way this document is set up, I think I could do find/replace to create a single paragraph, but not sure.

I'll take a closer look at x-refs, though I'd need a bit of reference as I haven't used it for TOC before.

[Barb Binder]

Hi @turner111:

It could look something like this:

Set up two x-ref formats:

• one for the titles: <fullPara /> 
• one for the byline tab page number <fullPara />^t<pageNum />

Call them both in on the same paragraph. Now when the text reflows, you can just click the update button at the bottom of the x-ref panel. 

~Barb 

[turner111]

Thanks Barb -

This looks good, but I'm wondering which is more time consuming - setting up x-refs for every item that needs to be in a TOC, or simply formatting one that's generated using the TOC tools.

hmmm...

[Laubender]

Good question.

In my opinion it's less time consuming to set up a TOC Style and use Find/Change after building the TOC to merge always two paragraphs in tandem. The third item you need, the page number, will be applied by the TOC Style's function automatically. Applied a paragraph style with a nested style that is responsible for typographical changes by applying character styles.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[turner111]

Thanks Uwe.

[Barb Binder]

Hi @turner111;

As I said in my first post, it is more time-consuming to set up a TOC as x-refs, but it's a one-click update once it is in place. If you create a traditional TOC, it will be two steps after edits: update the TOC and then run the Find/Change query. Of course, you can save the F/C query to make it quicker but you have to remember to do both. I work mostly with long docs, all of which have a table of contents and I have been known to forget the second step under the pressure of a deadline. Just something to think about. 

The important thing to remember is also in my first post—InDesign can't put two paragraphs on the same line. It should be able to by now, IMHO—Adobe FrameMaker has had the feature for 30 years—but InDesign still doesn't so you will need to make some accomodation or revise the look of the TOC.

~Barb 

[turner111]

Thanks Barb -

Remembering to run a query shouldn't be an issue in this case, since the TOC is its own chapter in the book file, and if it's the one being worked on, that's why 🙂 I typically would format right after an update.

[turner111]

Hi everyone & thanks again for your help.

I'm finding that with the current structure I have - which happens to look a LOT like the example posted by @Barb Binder, doing a simple find/replace works great.

Basically, I just did a find / replace on ¶ with "Author Name" style, and replaced it with >> (tab).

This then changed the "Article Title" style to "Author Name" style, brought it to the same line.

The TOC-generated tab and page # after the article title remained intact.

The only remaining editing, then, is to insert the Indent to Here symbol so that article titles too long for the current line align properly.

---

That said, does anyone know of a more "robust" add-on or method for formatting & using styles in TOC, index, etc. ?

[Laubender]

Hi turner111,

hm, you replaced the end-of-paragraph marker with a tab?

So the TOC has a more tabular approach by design?

Weird idea:

In that case I have a solution where you do not need to do Find/Replace and can work on with real paragraphs, also updating the TOC without further problems. This solution might look a bit strange for you at first glance, but it is simple:

Work with text frames that are threaded to each other where each of the frames holds only one single paragraph.

In effect a "table" where every "cell" is a text frame. The frames are threaded from left to right and from one row of frames to the next row of frames.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[turner111]

Hi Uwe-
Yes!

Here's how it looks, before & after. The ¶ after the Authors' names are replaced with the tab so that the titles align.
As noted, I have to then insert the Indent To Here where required.

 Before:

After:

In your example using text frames, would the text frames automatically resize based on line count in each?

cheers

Andrew

[Laubender]

Just one thing: You could use the right indent tab before your page numbers.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Hi Andrew,

well, looking at your screenshots…

It could be done, but you will not be very happy how one would have to set this up.

And to make that work you have to be sure that every title comes with two lines of text and every author's name with one line only.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )