How to compare stylesheet settings?

[Nedlaw]

I'm working on a book for a client. The book comprises 14 files plus a file at the end that I'm using to accumulate changes to the original template as I encounter and interpret various situations in the original copy. That last file will become the final template at the end of the project. What I want to do is look at the stylesheet definitions for each chapter and make sure that they all match -- more accurately, I want to see where they DON'T match.

I realize that I can pick one of my files and propagate its settings into every other file, thus assuring that all files will be the same. I do this frequently while working, and propagate my changes out to the other chapters. But because of various office interruptions, phone calls, lunch with co-workers, etc., I can't guarantee that I've saved EVERY single change from each chapter and propagated them out to all the other chapters (and to that all-important last file). Picking one current file and propagating its definitions across all files might erase a valuable change elsewhere that I've simply forgotten I've made. These differences are not  easy to spot (otherwise I'd rapidly notice them), but I'd like to review and compare before I package the book and hand it off to the client.

I already know that ID does not have a method where a stylesheet simply can be printed out in text format -- which would make this type of comparison absurdly easy, as well as making even the most complex stylesheets self-documenting. I've looked at the contents of IDML files, and they are not (or certainly not easily) human readable. I have tried exporting a file as xml, with no success (since I'm not mapped to definitions). I have tried exporting as HTML and looking at the automatically generated CSS files, but InDesign attempts to generate an HTML page that "looks like" the ID page... but I can't guarantee that everything is included or not simply approximated and cascaded. A CSS ultimately is not the stylesheet of the chapter; it is only "like" the stylesheet of the chapter.

Can anyone suggest a reasonable way for me to review the contents of the stylesheets as they are implemented in the various chapters, or am I just SOL and best advised to soldier on as best I can, have a nice day?

Thanks.

-jw

[Laubender]

Hi jw,

there is a script by Kasyan Servetsky that will create a table of properties and values for paragraph styles:

Export paragraph style description settings

Could be that the results will not show every property, especially with InDesign versions above CC 2014.

There are about 330 properties for paragraph styles with InDesign CC 2019 you could all compare.

The document object model for scripting lists nearly all I think:

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign-latest/#ParagraphStyle.html

Regards,
Uwe

[Nedlaw]

Thanks very much. I have downloaded this and will try it.

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Can anyone suggest a reasonable way for me to review the contents of the stylesheets as they are implemented in the various chapters, or am I just SOL and best advised to soldier on as best I can, have a nice day?

For future projects you might look at the Book feature which would let you setup the chapters as separate documents that can be synchronized to a master document. Something like this example where I have a book consisting of 4 chapter documents with Chap1 acting as the master, and with the Book's Synchronize Options set to include Paragraph and Character Styles:

I can open the master Chap1 doc and edit the PageNo Paragraph style:

If I select the other chapters in the Book panel, I get the option to synchronize them to the master

The chapter styles now all match the Chap1 master:

[TᴀW]

The OP is already using the book feature, and that's what's got him into this mess.

My recommendation is to avoid the book feature unless absolutely necessary.

The only time it's really necessary is if you have to collaborate with others.

For long documents (1000+ pages) it's not necessary and is just cumbersome and adds an unnecessary level of complexity.

[rob day]

I didn’t read the original post that way. It sounded like there were multiple documents, but they weren’t being controlled and synchronized from a Book file (indb)—maybe the OP could clarify that.

I’ve used the Book synchronize feature to make groups of documents that need to be consistent stylistically without any problems, but you do have to understand how the syncing and pagination works.

The book comprises 14 files plus a file at the end that I'm using to accumulate changes to the original template as I encounter and interpret various situations in the original copy. That last file will become the final template at the end of the project.

This part of the post makes it sound like there is a file that acts as a template where all of the Paragraph and Character Styles are correct. That file could be set as the master in an .indb file for sync'ing the other documents.

[Nedlaw]

Hi there. Original Poster here. Thank you all for your help (Adobe Forums has never failed me), but I think this discussion has gotten onto a side track. Before it goes further afield and wastes more of your time, let me clear up a couple of things.

1. I use the Book feature, and it has not "gotten me into this mess." There is no mess.
2. I fully understand the use of Synchronize and its Synchronize Options to make sure stylesheets are identical between book files. I use it all the time. It works great, doing what it does. But it does overwrite (albeit selectively) by its very nature.

Here is what prompted my question (and, before we go any further, the real answer is NO, there is no simple way to compare style sheets):

If I make a change in Chapter 2 and FAIL TO USE SYNCHRONIZE TO PROPAGATE IT TO THE OTHER CHAPTERS right then and there, then I may overwrite that change if I synchronize later based on Chapter 3 or some other chapter. So, I come back from lunch and say, Gee, now that I've sat right down and got busy and made changes in Chapter 3, did I sync those changes I made in Chapter 2? I can't remember! Now the situation is, whether I sync based on C2 or C3, I'm going to overwrite something in the other chapter. Why don't I just compare that style sheet to this one, and make sure before I overwrite the wrong thing and lose it...

Laubender (above) provides a link to a stylesheet printout script. The script works well, but it creates a very large data dump. I was hoping for a simple text dump (such as the summary text that appears in the dialog when you are defining a style element) that I could put through a program like WinMerge, which compares and points out the differences between two similar text files (lots of programmers use this program to keep track of changes). No such luck.

Best wishes to you all, and thanks.

-jw

[rob day]

If I make a change in Chapter 2 and FAIL TO USE SYNCHRONIZE TO PROPAGATE IT TO THE OTHER CHAPTERS right then and there, then I may overwrite that change if I synchronize later based on Chapter 3 or some other chapter.

When you need to edit a style, rather than making the change to Chapter X, why not open the master from the Book panel and make the change there, then always sync from the designated master document?

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

http://www.kasyan.ho.com.ua

List paragraph styles in their style by Dave Saunders

The script creates a list of paragraph styles where each style name appears in the formatting of the style — a sort of quick visual guide to a document's paragraph styles.

List paragraph and character styles by Kasyan

Makes a list of all paragraph styles and character styles in the active document, showing the font, font size and leading.

[Laubender]

Hi Stephen,

thanks for mentioning Dave Saunders' script.

Indeed, I think basically all options are on the table to compare paragraph styles.

1. Visual comparing assigned paragraph styles.

There are some visual tricks that are not mentioned in this thread.

Details here: Compare two documents

2. Doing a data table with property/value pairs of paragraph styles.

Both methods are not perfect.

If I think of GREP styles or nested styles it depends on the contents of a paragraph how the formatting turns out.

So one will not detect a visual difference between one or the other GREP style in certain situations.

Kasyan's script for listing the style's properties will not catch all formatting options because the script is not adapted to CC 2018's, CC 2019's new features. And there are still difficulties to access deeply nested values of properties like certain custom line styles etc.pp. or even real bugs with some properties. We have to remember that there are about 330 properties in a paragraph style!

Regards,
Uwe