First character of story editor and Notes panel displays incorrectly

[Document Geek]

In both the Story Editor and the Notes panel, the first character displays incorrectly. It doesn't matter what font I choose. It has been this way for along time, but I don't see this in other people's screenshots of their Story Editor panels. Any ideas?

[Laubender]

Feel free to use my ExtendScript ( JavaScript ) in reply 27.

You are welcome.

Best,
Uwe

[tlmurray23]

It works, thanks.

[Jeremy bowmangraphics]

That seems to have worked, thanks very much! Before now, I was deleting preference files only, but this time I deleted the entire contents of the folder "InDesign 13.0" in "Caches".

I'm a little surprised that that folder is not called "InDesign 13.1", as I am definitely running 13.1:

But in any case it seems to be working well now. Thanks again — Jeremy

[Jeremy bowmangraphics]

Actually, wait. No. They're back!

[tlmurray23]

Using InDesign 13.1, macOS 10.13.4. My files began life as new documents in 13.1, but I had been using InDesign for some years.

When I tried to make a new note, the little Notes dialog came up for a split second with a missing-glyph X as the first character, then the typing area turned white and I could not type into it at all. I could create a new note only by loading the clipboard and pasting into a new note the instant after it popped up.

The trashing of prefs and caches -- whether when starting InDesign or manually in Finder -- partly did the trick for new files, but the missing glyph problem remained in old. But I found I could start a new document, then copy the entire old content and paste in the new, and for now *part* of the problem is fixed: While the missing glyph is visibly there, at least now the Notes dialog is stable and I can type in it.

And something that didn't work was saving as an IDML and opening that.

[Laubender]

Hi,

just tested this with my Windows version of CC 2018.1 13.1.0.76: Found no problems doing a new note.

And also the special character is not showing up. The problem with the special character must be a Mac OS X problem.

Will test later with my Mac OS X version of inDesign CC 2018.1 on OS X 10.11.6.

In the meanwhile you could do a new note with the script below. It's written in ExtendScript ( JavaScript ).

Simply select an insertion point and run the script:

( function()
{
    // Do nothing, if:
    if( app.documents.length == 0 ){ return };
    if( app.selection.length != 1 ){ return };
    if( app.selection[0].constructor.name != "InsertionPoint" ){ return };
    var text = prompt( "Add text of your Note here:" , "Text for note.",  "Type or paste text for your Note here:" );
    if( text == null ){ return };
    var note = app.selection[0].notes.add();
    note.texts[0].contents = text;
}() )

Regards,
Uwe

[tlmurray23]

Still a bug in 2019 InDesign. Sheesh.

[RArmbrust]

This bug is still present in InDesign 2020. As soon as i insert a new table, the icons appear in story view. 

[Laubender]

Hi RArmbrust,

I cannot see this bug with my German Windows 10 version of InDesign 15.1.2:

What's your exact version of InDesign on what operating system?

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[RArmbrust]

Hi Uwe,

I'm working with InDesign 15.1.2 on macOS 10.14.6.

Kind regards

[RArmbrust]

I've put together a quick video to show you.

[RArmbrust]

I've tried it today on a different Mac and a different Adobe-ID with the same result...

[Laubender]

Seems to be entirely a bug on Mac OS X…

Because in the linked bug report below on InDesign UserVoice all comments are closed:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/31365199-story-editor

I would do a new report at:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[tlmurray23]

I reported this to the forum back in version 13 and as a beta test in 12. A couple of workarounds for notes and the Story Editor (the title of my thread that contains these workarounds is "First character of story editor and Notes panel displays incorrectly").

I paste my note/story into a text editor (I use BBEdit), copy it, then *immediately* after I open the notes/story window, I paste it. And "immediately" is key, as I found if I wait more than a couple of seconds, the bad character came back.

The other is that I found that in completely new document did not have the bad character, it does not arise again for while. Then when it returns, if I paste the old content into the new document (after setting up styles, masters, and all that), the bad character stays away . . . for a while. 

That said, I have not been willing to pay for the suite since November of 2018, and whatever version was current at that time had the bug. When I get a gig that needs InDesign, I will start it back up again.