Untreading or unlinking a text frame

[gscortino1]

I have a document that was first written as several sections with many pages per section.  I need to seperate them into chapters.  So I need to know how to unthread text frames so I break the link from one text frame but keep the sections together.  ie: Doc has 30 pages and is 3 seperate topics of ten pages each.  How do I keep pages 1-10 linked and break 10 to 11 then keep 11-20 linked and break 20-21 and keep 21-30 linked?  IN-Design CS5  And I have tried both scripts break frame and split story and they are not what I want.  Why does this not work?

Unthread text frames

When you unthread a text frame, you break the connection between the frame and all subsequent frames in the thread. Any text that previously appeared in the frames becomes overset text (no text is deleted). All subsequent frames are empty.

• Using the Selection tool, do one of the following:

  • Double-click an in port or out port to break the connection between frames.

  • Click an in port or an out port that represents a thread to another frame. For example, in a two-framed thread, click either the out port of the first frame or the in port of the second frame. Position the loaded text icon over the previous or next frame to display the unthread icon . Click in the frame you want to remove from the thread.

  
  
  Removing frame from thread

To break one story into two stories, cut the text that needs to go in the second story, break the connection between the frames, and then paste the text into the first frame of the second story.

[Michael_Gianino]

In case you're looking for a "press this button and it will work" solution, this isn't it, but I can walk you through what you've tried and maybe help you sort it out that way if you like.

Here's an example with 16 text frames linked into one story. All 16 frames are on one page, which I realize isn't what you have, but it works for a visual.

1. Go to the beginning of the second chapter. In this case, I'll say it's frame 7.

2. Place the cursor before the first character of the text of chapter 2.

3. Select all of the text after the cursor by hitting the End button while holding Shift and Command.

4. Cut the text (you can paste it into a small frame on the pasteboard if it makes you feel safer. You won't keep that frame when you're done, so it's optional).

5. With the Selection tool, double-click the out port of the frame at the end of chapter one (Frame 6, in this case). That will keep frames 1-5 as one story, and 7-16 as a separate story.

6. Click into the first frame of chapter 2 with the Type tool (or double-click with the still-selected Selection tool to switch to the text tool and place the text cursor) and paste.

You now have all of chapter one in it's own threadded story, and chapters 2-end in a second. Repeat the process to make chapter 2 separate from 3-end, and so on.

I don't use the two scripts you tried, but I'm pretty sure that they will break each individual text frame into it's own story, which isn't what you want. Unless you find a better way, the method I have described will work, but maybe not as quickly as you would have hoped.

One last thing, each chapter will have a separator at the end, rather than the # symbol that indicates the end of a story. That's because we placed the cursor after the separator at the end of the chapter and instead selected the text from the beginning of the next before cutting. If you prefer to keep things tidy, you can delete those extra next paragraph/next frame/next column characters either with the story editor or with the Remove Trailing White Space GREP (just be careful to only apply it where needed, in case it messes up something you hadn't intended).

[Isabel2594811615az]

This was exactly what I was looking for to split one long document into separate chapters within indesign. For those of you who, like me, don't have an end key on their mac, the keyboard shortcut is command+shift+fn+right arrow. 

[Peter Spier]

Dave Saunders wrote a scripte called DivideStory.jsx that automates splitting a story into two parts at the selected frame. He wrote it up at http://jsid.blogspot.com/2005/08/script-of-day-divide-story-into-two_31.html

The script was written for CS1 or CS2 and does not work directly in later versions, but it will work if you put it into a subfolder named "Version 4.0 Scripts" (without the quotes, and makes sure you spell everything correctly).

[gscortino1]

I was able to find a solution it was similar to what you both said but a little easier and also I found a script that is available on Adobe.  Read this article.

http://www.creativeprogression.com/splitting-text-threads-separating-stories-with-and-without-script...

The script was developed by Adi Ravid and is available at the Adobe Exchange. It allows splitting of all frames in a story, splitting before selected frame, or splitting after selected frame. I’ve used it in CS4 and CS5 (not yet in 5.5) and it has worked perfectly.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=1302518

1. Break the text thread between the frames by clicking the out-port of the last frame in the first story, then clicking that same frame. All the remaining text becomes overset, and the rest of the frames are now empty, ready to receive the new story.
2. Edit the story in Story Editor (click in the text with the type tool, go to the Edit menu, choose “Edit in Story Editor”).
3. You’ll see that all the overset text is clearly marked and easy to select in the Story Editor. Select and cut it. Close the Story Editor.
4. Paste the text into the empty frames.

In essence, this is what the script is doing for you automatically. It breaks the thread, selects and cuts the overset text, and then pastes that text into the empty frames. If you need to do this often, then the script will save you time; however, if you plan your documents well, hopefully yo won’t need to do this often!

[zJoriz and stuff]

Here's a useful tidbit of knowledge that had me stumped for a while:

You can't use the chaining handles to link or unlink boxes if there's another object on top of the handles, even if the layer said object is in is locked.

We often use a simple 0,5pt box line around our pages during the design process to the customer sees what the edge of the design is, should they opt to print a pdf. This sits in a locked layer on top, and, well, I just found out this messes with the tool that links and unlinks text boxes, which still attempts to target this locked layer until I hide it. Hope this helps someone.

[zJoriz and stuff]

My preferred method of cutting longer text box chains is a hybrid between Michael's method and the one Gscortino1 originally reacted to. But I would argue it's quicker and safer than both.

You know when your typing cursor is active in a text and you use shift + any of the arrow keys, you make a selection of text in that direction*, right? If this selection so much as touches overset text (all the content hidden behind the red + icon in the corner of your text box), it instantly selects it all.

This may be a little intimidating at first, but the upside is that you can quickly and safely move all the overset text to a new text box, without using the story editor or worrying where to start and end your custom selection.

• So first cut the connection between two text boxes.
• Then simply place your cursor after the final characters still visible in the text box, before the + symbol, and hit shift - down arrow** two or three times.
• Cut the resulting selection. The + symbol should be gone, if not, expand the selection downwards a bit further and cut again.
• Paste the cut content in the second text box.
• Remove page break characters and other whiterspace at the start of the second text box, and you're all set.

*) Nifty feature in InDesign, by the way, is that you can control which way a text selection expands. The arrow key you hit first is the end of the selection you're expanding or contracting. If you let go of shift and then hold it again, you can choose to expand/contract the other end of the selection by using the opposite arrow key first.

**) I'm guessing the down arrow works only if the text flows downwards (as it does in most languages/scripts).

One final tip: start from the back of the document and work your way backwards, so you limit the amount of content you're cuting and pasting at any time. Lighter on your computer's recources and less damage when you make a mistake.

[Stephanie23353091r000]

Thank you! Simple and easy and what I needed.

[KyRoka]

FANTASTIC!

[Laubender]

Now, eight years later, there is a script waiting in the relative new category Community of the Scripts panel in InDesign 2020 or 2021: BreakTextFrame.jsx  More and important details on the script by its author Timothy Ariel Walden:

Break Text Thread: A Free InDesign Script
by Ariel, January 28, 2020

http://www.id-extras.com/break-text-thread/

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Also know, that Ariel's script will also work with previous versions of InDesign.

At least down to InDesign CS6, I think.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[hilarync]

Thank you Timothy Ariel Walden for writing that script, and thank you Uwe for posting this. It just saved me at least an hour of head scratching. 🤟

[Leah D]

Just select one of the boxes that you want to break out from the link and cut it and paste it in place. You can shift select multiple boxes to break from others. This is the easist method I've come across.

[Migintosh]

That won't work. If you cut a text frame from the middle of a story, the contents of that text frame will flow to the next avilable text frame in the chain. When you paste the cut frame back in place, you will have a duplicate of the contents that are now in the subsequent frame.

[Leah D]

Yes, you are correct. I should have elaborated to say there will be some text cleanup to do after employing this method. It's just for me simpler to flow out the extra text into a box on the paste board and delete it, or other tricks along those lines to get rid of the overset text that results from this method.

[balths]

Why does a 2012 response that's surely useless today show up as the first Google result? Why is there not a bold notice saying this is outdated? Why, when thousands have been complaining for years about this does Adobe not care? They hate us, that's why. 🙂 

[Peter Spier]

Why do you say this is outdated? If you read Laubender's reply you'll not that the script he mentioned still works, and there is no fundamental difference in the steps required to break a thread in ANY version of ID.

[balths]

My apologies. I misread a date on the page. If I could delete my little hissy fit I would. Carry on, soldiers. 

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

balths said: "Why does a 2012 response that's surely useless today show up as the first Google result?"

Hi balths,

don't know what response exactly you are referring to.

My response is from November 2020:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/untreading-or-unlinking-a-text-frame/m-p/11566021#M402347

The script I mentioned there, BreakTextThread.jsx, is still available in InDesign's Scripts panel under category Community. The link to the important information about the script is not dead, the script is still working with InDesign 2021 down to InDesign CS6.

Break Text Thread: A Free InDesign Script
by Ariel, January 28, 2020

http://www.id-extras.com/break-text-thread/

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[stephaniea63886159]

Thank you! This script was exactly what I needed to do to break multiple text frames and keep the text in the text box, but not have the copy linked.

[frankieUMD · Accepted solution]

I needed to unlink hundreds of text frames on different pages. A colleague had pasted in the content from one long text file, but a variety of paragraph styles would be utilized in the final .indd document. I also wanted to ensure I could rearrange the order of the pages as needed without throwing it into disarray. 

This unlinking solution took me less than a minute. In my .indd document, I clicked on one of the linked text frames, then:
Window menu at top of screen> Utilities> Scripts> Application> Samples> JavaScript> SplitStory. 

Et voilà!

[SMeyerRassow]

Thank you for posting this! Works exactly as required & you've just saved me an afternoon of copying and pasting into individual text boxes. 🙂

[bethl85705656]

Yes!!! This is amazing!!

[defaults9lk9x3tdw11]

Wow thank you! This is just what I was looking for! Worked like magic! I had a bunch of stories that I need to load into separate frames, but I wanted to unlink it afterward so I can rearrange the pages and frames without having everything jump..this was the perfect solution!

[defaultn30i6agsdp3w]

Thank you so much!!!!