In-line anchored object (equation) management.

[#1]

Dear all,

I have managed to write equations in MS Word, export to PDF, edit the PDF in Illustrator, exported it as SVG, placed it as an anchored object inline in the InDesign document and then activated the Text Wrap for the object.

As you can see from the video the text that is colliding is brought to the next line but the space (leading?) between the two lines is not increased (as it would in Apple Pages or MS Word). 

How can I achieve that? What do I have to change? Paragraph Style? Something in the Text Wrap?

Also, second question, is there an easier way to insert equations in InDesign that doesn't involve scripting or expensive plugins? I'm still a beginner in InDesign so I do not feel comfortable with scripting.

Thanks 

[#2]

Dear all,

I have managed to write equations in MS Word, export to PDF, edit the PDF in Illustrator, exported it as SVG, placed it as an anchored object inline in the InDesign document and then activated the Text Wrap for the object.

As you can see from the video the text that is colliding is brought to the next line but the space (leading?) between the two lines is not increased (as it would in Apple Pages or MS Word). 

How can I achieve that? What do I have to change? Paragraph Style? Something in the Text Wrap?

Also, second question, is there an easier way to insert equations in InDesign that doesn't involve scripting or expensive plugins? I'm still a beginner in InDesign so I do not feel comfortable with scripting.

Thanks 

[#3]

What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want extra space in between the two lines of text? That is accomplish by leading and has nothing to do with anchored objects. Just increase the leading.

As far as inserting equations into InDesign, I don't have to do it often, but when I do,  just make them in Illustrator and save it as a PDF or AI file. Many people like MathML. While it seems that SVG is the output format that the Math ML plugin uses, if you're creating the graphics right in Illustrator, you can use other file formats if you like.

To be truthful, InDesign doesn't handle equations as elegantly as users would hope for.

[#4]

Indeed, I want to avoid the end of the second line to go to the third one for effect of the anchored object and just move all the line down. Can I change the leading of just one line of a paragraph?

I agree with you, most of those plugins are either just for Windows or not updated and/or way too expensive to make any sense. 

[#5]

Unfortunately I can’t view your video, but I can gues what it shows. Also unfortunately InDesign doesn’t handle text wrap for anchored objects well. Text wrap can only apply to lines of text after the anchored object. This prevents the text wrap from moving the object which would affect the text wrap and potentially create an endless feedback. 

So so you can place the anchored object earlier in your story and have the text after it flow around it. 

https://indesignsecrets.com/wrapping-text-around-an-anchored-object.php

[#6]

Hi Inélsòre,

if I see this right your situation is like the one with my screenshot below. Done from my German InDesign.

The inline anchored object has a text wrap that follows the bounding box of the anchored object.

You could change that to jump the object and force the whole next line down:

The problem with that: The amount of leading to the next line is perhaps too big.

Are you working with paragraphs that are aligned to the baseline grid?

Is your paragraph set to auto leading?

Note: My examples do not use Align To Baseline Grid, but they use Auto Leading.

What you want to achieve is perhaps this where I used a negative amount of text wrap at the bottom of the object and the jump object feature to fine-tune the result:

It also requires to change the default of a document specific preference.

I have no idea if it does change other things in other places of your text composition with other objects that use text wrap. If this is no problem for you simply turn off Skip by Leading:

Preferences > Composition > Text Wrap

[  ] Skip by Leading

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[#7]

Thank you very much Uwe and sorry for the late answer. 

I will test your suggestions on Monday. From what I see it seems they could solve the issue. 

In the meantime I have a few questions for my understanding:

1. What does it mean "Skip by Leading" conceptually? What is skipping what?
2. By now I am not using aligning to a baseline grid because it is a document which heavily alternates text and images and in not predictable sizes. So, auto Leading is what one gets when not using the grid, right?
3. Can I change the usage of Auto Leading vs Baseline Grid on a paragraph style basis? 

Thank you so much for your most detailed answer. I will get back to this when I can test it.

[#8]

Hi,

to answer your questions:

Auto leading is the leading you see in brackets. Usually it's 120% of the point size; so if you are using 10 pt text size the automatic leading value is (12 pt). Opposed to a fixed leading. The default for text with InDesign is auto leading. And the amount of auto leading can be defined in InDesign's preferences.

Auto leading has nothing to do if the actual text is forced to a baseline grid, either the grid that is defined document wide or the grid that is defined with an individual text frame through the text frame options.

Skip by leading: What is meant by that?

If enabled, and this is the default, it will force the next line of text to the next leading value after the text wrapping zone.

You can see that happen in my second screenshot of my post before.

Note: Because you do not force the text to the baseline grid it is advicable to also use auto leading so that the inline anchored object will move the line of text where it is anchored a bit down. You can see that behavior in my second and also in my third screenshot above.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[#9]

Thanks Uwe.

I have now been able to try your suggestions. 

Using the Jump Object without any edit produces your same result (too much leading for the following line), but reducing the lower padding by anything less than 1/8 of inch produces nothing, while 1/8 of inch brings the line back to its normal leading (I have 12pt text with 18pt leading), which is not enough in this context. 

I wonder if anchoring the object may be the wrong thing to do and if another option may be available. 

I have checked the Preferences and auto-leading is on. Just I found no reference to leading being "the number in brackets". Where do you see that?

I saw that I can manually increase the leading of a single line of text, which may just be the cheapest solution right now. 

Also, I didnt find any reference to "auto leading amount" being editable in Preferences on my Mac. 

You also speak of document specific preferences. Are they in a different place compared to the InDesign > Preferences menu?

Thank you so much for your help (and patience!)

[#10]

I have just inserted a new image in the same paragrah, which I'm attaching below alongside my interface with the second object selected. 

To show you that I am not kidding, I have exaggerated the text wrap of this object, but the dext is not moving at all around it. 

All this looks unnecessarily complicated which, in my experience with softwares, may mean that I am missing something. 

Thanks for your help.

 

[#11]

Hi Inélsòre,

auto leading is a feature of the paragraph. The default is 120%. That comes with a fresh installed InDesign and the Basic Paragraph Style. As you can see from the Control panel the value 12 Pt is written as (12Pt). The point size of the text dictates this. 10 Pt text size in my example below yields a leading of 12 Pt:

If you could move a small sample InDesign document to Dropbox or a similar service and post the download link I could give you better advice.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[#12]

This is the file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7mpf7h9ctd3e52i/Leading%20help.indd?dl=0 , I have extracted the problematic  page.

I don't know if this is macOS but the leading is not in brackets here. Never mind, it's still there.

Thanks.