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_micah_stupak_
Participant
January 26, 2009
Question

selecting text frames on multiple pages

  • January 26, 2009
  • 3 replies
  • 1185 views
hello all -

i have a problem i believe is tailor-made for a script, but i don't know enough about scripting to tackle it. in CS3, i have a 300+ page document and i wish to select all text frames and change their Y position. is there a script that exists for this? the "select objects" script in indesign sadly doesn't select across multiple pages.

thanks!
micah
This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

Loic.Aigon
Loic.Aigon
Legend
January 26, 2009
Oh Dave has already been by here and already corrected me :-)
b spreads.textFrames.everyItem().move(undefined, offset);
i I tried [undefined,2] but it seems you cannot avoid move only one axis only.
Loic.Aigon
Loic.Aigon
Legend
January 26, 2009
you cannot select all textframes at once as you can't do in the UI.<br />however you can create a collection of textframes and loop thought it to move the positions.<br />var mytf = app.activeDocument.textFrames.everyItem().getElements();<br />for(i=0; i<mytf.length; i++)<br />{<br /> var x = mytf.geometricBounds[1];<br /> var y = 2 //for example;<br /> mytf.move([x,y]);<br />}<br />I tried [undefined,2] but it seems you cannot avoid move only one axis only.<br /><br />Loic
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_Dave_Saunders_
Inspiring
January 26, 2009
A script cannot do things that are impossible in the UI. So, selecting on more than one page is not possible.

However, to do what you want, a script doesn't have to select anything. 
//DESCRIPTION: move all text frames in document 12 units down



( function() {

  if (app.documents.length > 0) {

    moveTextFrames(app.documents[0], [0,12]);

  }

  function moveTextFrames(doc, offset) {

    var spreads = doc.spreads.everyItem().getElements();

    for (var j = spreads.length - 1; j >= 0; j--) {

      spreads.textFrames.everyItem().move(undefined, offset);

    }

  }

}())
To move by some other amount, change the values (that's x and y in the units you're using) in the moveTextFrames call.

Interestingly, for this to work, you have to go a spread at a time. I expected that:

>app.documents[0].textFrames.everyItem().move(undefined, [0,12]);

would work, but it didn't. Gave me the dreaded: this will cause an item to be moved off the pasteboard message.

Dave
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