Need anchored objects to be behind text

Anchored objects have aways had lot of shortcomings for my workflow. One shortcoming I'd really like to see fixed in future versions of ID is the inability to choose for the anchored object to appear behind the text it is anchored with. Here are just a few uses that I can think of that would be helpful in my workflow:
Creating numbered lists that have specialty art behind the numbers. To do this currently, you have to either do manual numbering and group it with each object and anchor the object with the number into the line of text or you have to keep the auto-number list and the objects for the numbers separate and manually reposition the number objects whenever the text reflows.
Creating paragraph backgrounds that flow with the paragraph. Right now about the only way to do that is using the paragraph rules or tables which have severe formatting limitations (no rounded corners, ignore text wrap, etc.), and the rules are difficult to resize. If you could create the background as a ID object or placed art and anchor it to the beginning or end of the paragraph, you could manually resize it to the size of the paragraph and it will flow with the paragraph whereever you need it (this currently will not work unless the object can be made transparent to the text using an effect.
Captioning anchored images could actually overlap the image if and where necessary. Right now, if you want captions to appear on top of an anchored image, you have to group the caption with the image before anchoring it into the text flow.
There are workarounds obviously for these tasks (as I've indicated), but by their nature workarounds are time consuming. I'm always looking for ways to automate tasks and save time in ID. Having the option to make an object appear behind the text it is anchored with would be a tremendous time saver.
Anyone else see a use for stacking order option with anchored objects?

@Obi-wan – you say: "Despite the fact that, like all anchored boxes, it is foreground, text color is truly visible with no effect on the blue block !!"
With anchoring "Above Line" the anchored objects are really stacked behind. At least that stacking order is true for all characters after the anchor character. Using a different anchoring method will always yield in anchored objects stacked above (foreground).
Doing some tricks with the effects panel on the anchored object is alright, so that all the other text, that is stacked below will showing through, but you should be aware, that these effects will change the game when it comes to color separation for print workflows.
Separation preview with all channels visible CMYK:
Separation preview with [Black] not visible CMY:
As you can see, the usually overprinting color [Black] on the text below is left out. When exporting a PDF, I think nearly no prepress tool in the world will find an automatic way to change this because of the stacking order of the elements.
If the green rectangle would be stacked behind the text like in anchoring "Above Line" we will see the following with separation preview CMYK:
Turn off K in the separation preview will give a surprising image:
All black text, that comes after the anchor character will overprint, all text before will not. And that "will not" is definitive. If we look at the objects in Acrobat Pro after exporting to PDF, we will see that not overprinting characters "ut endis" in my little screenshot here are below the green rectangle, all characters following after the anchor are above the green rectangle.
Here a screen shot from Acrobat Pro that will reveal the stacking order a bit (the transparent background of the page is shown as gray; an option in Acrobat Pro's view preferences):
So in the end, "ut endis" will be printed with a total amount of color:
0 Cyan
0 Magenta
0 Yellow
100 Black
Sum: 100%
The "black" text following due to overprinting* (EDIT) will be printed with:
75 Cyan
5 Magenta
100 Yellow
100 Black
Sum: 280%
* AND of stacking order of course!
All other black text will overprint as well, but there is no effect for the green rectangle because the text is stacked behind the rectangle.
Uwe

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[JS][CS3-CS5] anchored objects/inline back to text

g'day there.
been handed a reformatting job where the client has supplied text in word with additional textframes (they have made callouts next to their body text), meaning when the text is imported into indesign, the text has hundreds of anchored objects containing the callouts. is it possible to take these anchored objects and convert them back into the actual main textframe? ATM, the only way to do this would be to cut and paste.
i have done a search on the forums and elsewhere to remedy this and there are plenty of threads advising on how to take text and make anchored objects out of them, but what i want to do is the reverse.
thank you.
colly

i feel strange answering my own question, but i stumbled across this older applescript and it seemed to do the trick, so thought i'd put it out there.
tell application "InDesign CS5"
    tell document 1
      set thetextframes to text frames
      repeat with aframe in thetextframes
         set theCount to count of (text frames of aframe)
         tell aframe
             repeat with i from theCount to 1 by -1
               set boxContents to paragraphs of text frame i of aframe as string
               set contents of first insertion point of parent of text frame i to boxContents
               delete text frame i of aframe
             end repeat
         end tell
      end repeat
   end tell
end tell
full credit to peter kincaid who wrote the script. all i did to make it work was just to tell the application CS5 rather than CS1 which was in the original script.
the actual site i found the script at was:
http://olivier.berquin.free.fr/indesign/indesign_cs1.html

Can't anchor object at top of text frame

I'm trying to place an achored object inline at the top of a text frame (CS 5). If I make the insertion point before the first word of text the object always gets placed below the first line of text. I can change the Y relative to "Line (top of leading)" for the anchored position in the options but then the first line of text gets covered up (the object has text wrap applied). I can put an extra space at the top of the page and anchor the object there, but then the text doesn't begin at the top of the text frame.

Here's a shot of the page and the anchored object settings. The arrow points to the insertion point in the text frame.

Place anchor image by finding the text...

Hi scripting Gurus & everyone,
We are working with InDesign CS3 files. And we need to place two different icons as anchor objects in the margins by finding respective callouts. If the callout is "[Pair-Icon]" means the P-icon (i.e. image) that has to be placed as anchored object. If the callout is "[Group-Icon]" means the G-icon (i.e. image) that has to be placed as anchored object. The icons have approximately 3 pica height and width. It will always comes in left side of the margin in both verso and recto pages. Doing automation for anchor object placements is new to us.
Can any one help me for this.
Thanks in advance.
Thiyagu

Hi scripting gurus,
I have tried a little bit to place the "Pair_Icon" art as anchor object by replacing the text "[P-ICON]" in the document. But nothing happened after running the script. Same like the Group_Icon has to be placed by replacing the text "[G-ICON]. Can anyone look into this help me out.
Find the script below,
//===================
if(app.documents.length>0)
    var myDoc=app.activeDocument;
    var myText=["[P-ICON]"];
    var myText1=["[G-ICON]"];
     var Lb1=["Group_Icon"];
    var Lb2=["Pair_Icon"];
    var counter=0;
    var Xoffset=63;
    var Yoffset=4;
    var Dist=12;
    var myNewUnits = myDoc.viewPreferences;
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    myNewUnits.horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
    myNewUnits.rulerOrigin=RulerOrigin.pageOrigin;
    myDoc.zeroPoint=[0,0];
    for(var j=0;j<myText.length;j++)
        for(var i=myDoc.stories.length-1;i>=0;i--)
            var Stry=myDoc.stories[i];
            var Para=Stry.contents;
            for(var k=0;k<Para.length;k++)
                try{
                    if(Para[k]==myText)
                        app.selection=1851876449;
                        Para[k].select();
                        app.selection=1851876449;
                        var y=app.libraries[0].assets;
                        var Chi=Lb1[j];
                        var x=y.item(Chi).placeAsset(myDoc);
                        Tex=x[0];
                        Tex.contents="A";
                        Tex.contents.select();
                        app.paste();
                        var RemLen=Tex.characters.length;
                        Tex.characters[RemLen-1].remove();
                        Tex.fit(FitOptions.frameToContent);
                        var Obj=Para[k].pageItems[0];
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.anchoredPosition = AnchorPosition.anchored;
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.spineRelative=true;
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.anchorPoint = AnchorPoint.topLeftAnchor;
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.horizontalReferencePoint=AnchoredRelativeTo.pageMargins;
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.anchorXoffset=0;
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.anchorYoffset=0;
                        Obj.anchoredObjectSettings.verticalReferencePoint=VerticallyRelativeTo.capheight;
                        counter++;
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                    alert(e);
    alert(counter+" DONE");
//=======================
Thanks in advance
Thiyagu

New technique to place multiple anchored objects in InDesign story

Hello,
For a while I have been trying to figure out how to insert multiple anchored objects into an Indesign story. As far as I can tell, you cannot copy multiple objects that have already been placed in a document (such as a multi-page pdf) into an InDesign story, but must copy and paste them one-by-one into the story. This is a problem for a project I am working on where I want to have a large number of 340x52 pt pdfs to flow throughout a document in a master text frame interspersed with text.
I have now found a solution for this issue that I thought I would share in case it would be helpful for anyone. It utilizes Automator actions for Mac OS X and Microsoft Word 2011 [2008 may work also, but I don't have a copy of that to test]; I am not good with scripting but perhaps similar solutions could be found for other systems and programs.
1. If you want to place a multipage pdf within a text frame, first it into individual files for each page (with Acrobat Pro or pdftk or something similiar).
2. Create an Automator service or program with the action "Create New Word Document". You can also use another automator action to save the document, or save it manually (to change the filename). In the finder, select the items you want, then run the service or drag them into the Automator program you have created.
3. Place the word document into your InDesign story. Your items will now be anchored objects ordered in your text frame as they were in the finder.
Please let me know if this is helpful or if anyone has suggestions for doing this process is a more efficient way. I am not sure, but it may be the case that this approach would only work on Macs, as I gather from this thread.

I might note that I am using InDesign CS 5, and importing from a document stored in docx format.

Selecting Graphics Behind Text

Hello,
I’m using Pages ’08 and working with a neat, layered, grouped graphic. There are three layers: a dark background graphic, a lighter middle graphic, and white text in a text box on top. All three use the exact same dimensions and are stacked one on top of the other for a total of three layers, grouped. None of the layers cause wrap.
I’d like to select one of the graphics to edit the color and find that I cannot do it without ungrouping the items, moving the text layer out of the way, applying the new color, putting the text layer back in place, and then regrouping everything. It seems like unnecessary steps. It seems as if I should be able to use a modifier key and do a series of clicks to activate the layer that I want, much like when I used QuarkXPress and InDesign. Is there a similar key stroke in Pages?
The user’s manual says “To select a floating object that’s behind text, place the pointer outside the text area, press the Command key, and then drag across the page until the object’s selection handles appear.” That doesn’t solve my concern, though.
I've attached a sample of what my graphic looks like. It would be great if there were key strokes to use. If not I'll have to go back to each instance of the graphic and make changes to each one.
Please let me know if you have an idea of how to make this work.
Thanks,
Scott

Pages does not have any modifier keys to click down through layers like other DTP software.
Unlocking and staggering the layers is the only way. There is an averaging command that does however let you centre them back on top of each other.
Peter
Greetings from sunny Broome.

Anchoring Object to a Paragraph Style? Objects behind text

Hello,
I am trying to anchor an graphic object to a paragraph style that is a numbered paragraph. I have set up my numbering and I want a single graphic to be anchored to the number so it appears behind the number each time I choose that paragrah style.
Is this possible to do?
Or perhaps I should ask how other people put graphics behind bullets or numbers and have them anchor to the text...
I sure could use soem help with this; it seems like it should be easy...
Dave.

I found this intriguing, so I thought I'd see what I could come up with.
I made a numbered paragraph style, to start. Then I made a Cyan filled ellipse, which I anchored in front of the first word in one of the paragraphs, and changed the positioning to custom and made sure it was relative to the anchor, and turned off keep within frame boundaries, to allow me to position it "behind" the number. As emmanuel points out, anchored objects are actually in front of the text, so so far it's not working.
I selected the ellipse and changed it's blend mode to multiply. This will not change it's color where it is over white, but it will darken wherever it is on top of another color, creating a rich black number, for example, if you used black text. Looks pretty good now.
Select the ellipse and create a new object style based on it. This will by default include the blend mode and anchored object parameters, and be sure the style is applied to the selected ellipse. Now cut the ellipse and paste it on the pastboard out of the way so you don't lose it.
As long as the object is on the clipboard you can use it for a find/change operation, so you can do that now, or later, just by copying it again when it's convenient. The find/change needs to be a GREP search for ^(.) which means find any character at the beginning of a paragraph, and replace with ~c$1 which means replace with the formatted contents of the clipboard and the found character. Be sure to set the find formatting options to the numbered paragraph style.
Because you gave the object an object style that includes the blend mode and positioning, and you pasted it as a formatted object, those attributes are preserved and the graphic will be positioned correctly for each paragraph.
Peter

Anchored objects behind text

Is there a way to make an anchored box sit behind text? I have a section title with section numbers. I would like to place a piece of art behind all the section numbers. The box always comes out on top. I can create a new paragraph style with autonumbering for the section into it, place it over the art, group it, and then anchor it. The only problem is, now the section numbers won't show up in the running head. Any ideas? I'm using CS3. I used to be able to do this in FrameMaker. Thanks.

Can't be done with anchored objects - sorry.
But you can convert your text to a table - and that can put a background in there.
OR
Use Paragraph Rules to highlight a line of text or a pargraph of text
http://www.theindesigner.com/blog/episode-49-paragraph-rules-rule

Anchored Objects with text wrap, need vertical space

Hi. I'm a fairly new InDesign user and have just this past week learned about anchored objects, threading text frames, numbered lists, and some other fun options. So far InDesign has done most everything I need fairly elegantly. However, I have not been able solve one issue.
In my book I have numerous pages that have this issue; I'll just describe one case. On this page there are 4 graphics running down the right side of the page. These are not anchored graphics. They do have text wrap defined on the left side and bottom. There is text that wraps lovely on the left.
Each of these four graphics has a specific paragraph it needs to top align with. However, the text it aligns with may not take up as much vertical space as the graphic does. When I anchor each graphic with the paragraph it needs to align with, the four graphics overlap each other.
At the moment, to make it look right, I have placed each graphic individually and added a blank paragraph above each paragraph of text that should align with a graphic and use the Space Above of each blank paragraph to have it align with the graphic.
I'm not even sure what to search to try and solve this. I looked briefly into compound paths, but that didn't look like it would help.
I hope this is clear and thank you for any assistance at all.
Andrea

No problem. Click your cursor somewhere in the paragraph that ought to be aligned with the next image down, then run this Javascript.
It's not entirely accurate, as it uses the font size to do a minimal adjustment where it actually should use the font's cap height -- but you cannot get to that through scripting. This final adjustment is necessary because ID does know the baseline, and your first line ought to dip just below this to have the top of the first line aligned to the top of the image.
//DESCRIPTION:Align paragraph with image.
// Jongware, 15-Jul-2010
if (app.selection.length == 1 && app.selection[0].hasOwnProperty ("baseline") && app.selection[0].paragraphs[0].index > 0)
     // find nearest image on the right
     ypos = app.selection[0].paragraphs[0].lines[0].baseline;
     pg = app.selection[0].parentTextFrames[0];
     while (1)
          if (pg instanceof Character)
               pg = pg.parentTextFrames[0];
          if (pg instanceof Spread || pg instanceof Page)
               break;
          if (pg instanceof Document || pg instanceof Application)
               exit(0);
          pg = pg.parent;
     img = pg.allGraphics;
     dist = 999999;
     nearest = null;
     for (i=0; i<img.length; i++)
          if (img[i].geometricBounds[0] > ypos && Math.abs(img[i].geometricBounds[0] - ypos) < dist)
               dist = Math.abs(img[i].geometricBounds[0] - ypos);
               nearest = img[i];
     if (nearest == null)
          alert ("no image found nearby!");
     else
          prevm = app.activeDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits;
          app.activeDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.POINTS;
          top = nearest.geometricBounds[0];
          ypos = app.selection[0].paragraphs[0].lines[0].baseline;
          if (ypos < top)
               app.selection[0].paragraphs[0].spaceBefore = top-app.selection[0].pointSize-app.selection[0].parentStory.paragraphs.previousItem(app.selection[0].paragraphs[0]).lines[-1].baseline;
          app.activeDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = prevm;
This image shows three paragraphs aligned with their respective images (it won't work on the first paragraph, but that ought not to be necessary anyhoo).

Text to anchored objects

Hi,
Somehow I think my question is quite simple to answer, but I've run out of ideas right now...
Is it possible to place text in an anchord object and remove it from it's current story in one action? The words are all labeled (xml), but they need to be placed outside the textframe they are in.
Right now the only way I see that happening is to copy-paste every single word in it's anchored object (which is also placed on the right place by hand...)
I hope you can help me! Anyhow, thanks for any suggestion...
Maaike

It's not free, but this'll do what you want: http://in-tools.com/plugin.php?p=18
If you only need it for a one-off job, you can use it in demo mode. (It's fully functional for 30 days.) Of course, I'd appreciate if you'd buy it though!
Harbs

Placing multiple page pdf as anchored objects in text

I am trying to place a multilple page pdf as in anchored object in text. Ideally I'd like it to flow in and size to the column width. Is this possible? Im running ID 5.5 on windows 7. Ive tried the script for MultiPageImporter-but I cant seem to get it place the pdfs in text. Any ideas?

If you use the mutlipage importer to import the PDF into a New Document that has the same width as your text frame (perhaps a bit smaller).
Then Export that to PDF from InDesign.
You should now have a smaller PDF.
Then in your document you want to place that PDF choose File>Place and select the New PDF you created.
Make sure the Show Import Options is ticked.
Import all the Pages.
You now have to manually place the PDF into the document into the text to anchor them.
If you need to do this automatically I suggest visiting the Scripting Forum - forums.adobe.com/community/indesign/indesign_scripting

Anchoring objects to text in InDesign CS5.0

Hi,
I'm trying to convert a heavily styled book with lots of photos and charts to Kindle. When I export to Kindle, it's a mess. Is it possible to anchor objects to text in CS5? I know CS5.5 can do it, but I'm having a hard time figuring it out in CS5.
Any helpful hints for making this conversion as easy as possible ... and without knowing any HTML would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

I highly recommend Elizabeth Castro's ebook to learn the basics of creating EPUB files—"EPUB Straight to the Point"
Formatting ebooks - EPUB Straight to the Point
Here is how she suggests you do it in InDesign CS5:
Place the cursor in the flow of your book where you want to illustration to go (at the beginning of a paragraph).
Press Return to create a separate paragraph for the illustration
Apply an Illustration paragraph style. She suggests setting autoleading so the paragraph expands to the height of the illustration.
Choose File > Place to place the illustration in that paragraph.
If you need a caption, press return to create a new paragraph and apply the Caption style.

Anchor Object without Modifying Text

Short:
Is there a way to place objects and attach their location to a particular numbered paragraph, without using anchored objects, i.e., is it possible ot make an anchored object without a inserting an anchor into the text?
Long:
I am currently assembling a document where the text is placed from a Microsoft Word document and figures will be placed from a variety of sources (.pdf exports of TeX equations, .ai figures, etc.).
I have explored anchored objects to some extent, and they provide all the functionality I need, with one exception.
I would very much like to be able to insert figures into my indesign project and be able to update my text in Microsoft Word without losing the insertion points. As it is now, when I update my linked Word file, the anchors are removed from the text.
One approach I considered was to complete the majority of the text in Word, then place the text into InDesign, break the link, add my anchors, and complete revisions in InDesign. Unfortunately, this approach will not work, as I am using a reference manager in the text, and reordering/adding/removing references would become exceedingly tedious in a document with dozens of references and nearly 100 citations to those references.
Thanks so much for your help in advance!

Short: No. Longer: Perhaps you should just put the objects on the page, or pasteboard, for now, and do the anchoring when editing is done.

Still need help - Anchoring Objects

I posted earlier and thought that my problem is fixed but it isn't. This time I have a screen shot so that you can see the problem better.
Here is what it looks like when I anchor this photo to the text below it! I'm not exactly sure whether it has to do with word wrap or anchoring. I tried making the text box smaller but it doesn't help! If I anchor it to the text above it then it will pull the object into mid air!
Does anyone use Anchored objects or is it more hassel than it's worth?
Thank you for your help!

Here's some new screen shots in helping explain my delema. I'm wanting to anchor this object to the paragraph below it, but when I do that it brings a line of text up behind/above the object.
Then I anchored the object to the paragraph below it. You can see the text on the below picture moved up above the image when I anchored it! I don't want that text up there. When I try shrinking the text box, it just moves the image down with it.
I'm wondering if on object can only be anchored to something above it, and if it isn't anchored to something above it than it brings whatever it's anchored to above the object?
Thank you for your help!

Text wrap in anchored objects

In order to place text boxes relative to the spine, I have placed them as anchored objects.
But now, these text frames do not respect text wrap setting from objects outside of the anchored object.
I have made sure that ignore text wrap in text frame options is not checked.
Is this a bug?
And does anyone know a workaround?

In order to make my design indifferent to later added pages, I have placed all text frames and graphic placeholders as anchored objects, positioning them relative to spine.
When I now place an object on top of such an anchored text frame, text wrap is not working, even if i overide the master page item.
The only work around I have found is to copy the respective text frame and make the original master page item unvisible.
Is there not another way to to this?
For me, the best would be another way of placing text and graphic frames relative to spine.
Bus as soon as one overrides the master page item, the object is not placed anymore relative to spine if another page is inserted.

Need anchored objects to be behind text

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