Changing/overriding case in running header

[Elsie2]

I added a running header to pick up the Chapter Title, which is all caps in text, and specified to change the case to Title Case. However, it's not grammatically correct in that it's initial capping words like and, of, and or, which should be lowercase.

How can I correct the capitalization on some of the headers when Insert Variable is used?

[Scott Falkner]

Changing to TItle Case is a permanent change to the text, not a formatting change. You would be better off setting the title in case you need and styling it as ALL CAPS where you want that and leaving it alone where you want Title Case. 

[Elsie2]

Hi, Scott. I'm not sure I understand your answer. It may be that I'm not explaining the question well. In text, chapter titles are set to Trajan, an all-cap font (it's not set to caps in InDesign).

When I use text variables to create the running header, picking up the chapter title and changing the case to title case, the problem is that ID is initial capping every word--even when it's incorrect. E.g., "Angels Of Light" should have lowercase "of."

So I'm wondering whether/how I can override certain headers that have been created with text variables. If it's not possible to edit/override the existing headers, do I need to create new masters with a header frame and manually add the headers on those chapters? (Or use a master with no header and just add a header frame on those pages?) Thanks.

[Scott Falkner]

You can’t, not without first overridong the variable. You can’t edit the formating of some of hte text in a variable, ony all of it. Even if you could create a style to force text to be lowercase you could only appply it to all of the variable or none of it.

[FRIdNGE · Accepted solution]

It's not because Scott's comment is right that you can't do it … easily!

Let's take your sample:

"Angels of Light"

… and this one:

"Lucifer, Angel and Demon for Eternity" (the biggest case)

How to play? … Just using 5 variables (based on char styles)!

"Lucifer, Angel and Demon for Eternity"

"Angels of Light  "

Of course, manage these applied char styles manually could be quickly painful … but do it with just "1 click" seems to me a little more simplistic!

(^/)  The Jedi

[Elsie2]

Now two years later, when I had the same issue and couldn't recall how to resolve it, I found this answer. It's perfectly clear, and perfectly brilliant. It's very easy to set my titles in text to the proper capitalization, then apply all-caps to the styling on the page. When defining my variable for the running header, I omit any change in case and the text is picked up correctly. Thank you!!