Overriding Text Variable Running Header

When you override a text variable running header, is there a way to keep that header "running"? I needed my header to be two lines so I did an override, but now it doesn't flow with the rest of the text. Now it's become a stationary header?

No. When you convert a variable to text, it is no longer "variable".
You can try and wait until your layout is totally finished before you convert tot text.
FWIW, multi-line headers is one of the advantages of Power Headers...
Harbs

Similar Messages

  • How to make a text variable (running header - character) resize a text frame?

    I have successfully been able to get a metadata text variable to auto-resize a text frame, but when I change the text variable to a running header-character/paragraph variable, the text frame does not resize - in fact it gets smaller and squashes the text.
    Surely if Indesign can handle one kind of variable it should handle another??
    Please help!

    Thanks all.
    Will- I tried adding another character to the text box but this made no difference.
    Eugene- I'm trying to avoid the purchase of any 3rd party plugins due to budget constraints.
    I realised that all I needed to do was use a wide paragraph rule to emulate a box behind the text, and make the text box long enough to hold all possible variables.
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  • Why do text variables using Running Header character style translate forced returns as a word space in the running head on the first page but close up the space on subsequent pages?

    In an InDesign document that requires 3 different Chapter head paragraph styles (to cope with differrent length headings) I've set up the running heads on the master page with a text variable using the Running header (character style) option. The character style I've assigned to this is an empty character style that is applied to all 3 chapter head paragraph styles.
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    Does anyone have any solutionss, or know if this problem has been fixed in subsequent releases of InDesign (I'm using CS6 ID version 8.0)
    Thanks

    Ask in the ID forum...
    Mylenium

  • Is there a way to allow for two lines in "running header (character style)" text variable?

    In my "running header (character style)" text variables, some of the items are quite long and take up more space in my header than I have room for - because I have another "running header (character style)" text variable beside it - and I am trying to figure out if there is a way to force that text variable to go into two lines when it runs out of space.
    Does anyone know if this is possible?

    Sadly, only by adding a forced line break in the variable. Adobe’s engineers are unable to allow long variables to break at the end of a line. Sad, since this is a feature I remember from a Macintosh word processor I used in 1988.

  • Running header and text variable help!

    I am trying to add a running header to a book I am creating but I cannot get the running header to work. I have read on the Adobe help pages and other sites online but still can't figure it out. I really just need a step by step on how to get this to work. I don't want to have to go through and edit the week number manually, but at this point I am getting frustrated. (Running CS5)
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    This is what the running header should look like:
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    One time I got the "Week 1" to appear but it was in the large text style, not the smaller size. I forget what I did to get that, so now all I can make happen is the blank text field.
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    I haven't read the tutorial Prashant has mentioned twice, but it will probably help you. As he says, variables are basically pretty simple, though running head types are perhaps a bit more complex than some others.
    Basically, a variable is a marker, in the same way that an automatic page number is a marker, but in the case of the running head variables ID looks for text that matches a particular style (your choice, when you define the variable, of Paragraph Style or Character Style, and also whether it is the first instance or the last instance of that style on the page (again part of the definition) and ignores other matches that might also be present on your page. If no matching text is present on a particular page, ID searches backwards in the document to find a match on a previous page (which is why having  the matching text on only the first page of the section will work). Variables can pick up both visible and "invisible" or non-printing text which is handy if you need to have a match on a page, but don't want that text to appear in output except where it is displayed in the variable.
    Does that help?
    The advantage to using the variable here is that you can use the same master page (or two master pages or however many different masters are used in one complete section) for all of the sections instead of making separate masters with the new header or footer information for each section.

  • Show the period value in column header using Text Variable

    We are using Posting Period & Financial Year to calculate YTD & MTD, for current year and previous years. These posting period and financial year characteristics are custom created characteristics we are using due to customer specific requirement.
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    Column headers should be 08.1999 Sales Qty, 08.2008 Sales Qty, 1999 Sales Qty, 2008 Sales Qty.

    Hi Abhinav,
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    Hope this helps
    Josh

  • How to use Text Variables to make Running Footers

    I'm confused about how Text Variables are behaving in the creation of Running footers on a pair of master page.
    My document has 3-6 Steps on each page. Each Step is designated with a unique character style called StepName.
    I want a running footer that has the first instance of StepName on the left page and the last instance of StepName on the right page. Like a dictionary.
    I can get the correct text to appear, but then it adds an unwanted ParagraphStyle (a substep letter) that gives me this:
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    when what I want is just this:
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    The Character Style StepName is not based on any other style.
    I have seen this done but can't understand why I'm picking up a lettering scheme on the footer.
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    Sounds like you have a numbered list applied to the paragraph style of your footer.  It's either part of the paragraph style of the footer or it's local formatting. Either way, you can turn it off by selecting the paragraph and clicking on the numbered list button on the paragraph panel or the main control panel. Or you can edit the style and under bulleted and numbered lists change the list to none.

  • I'm trying to create a running header to pick up one of two paragraph styles...

    I have a Header_1 and a Header_11 paragraph style. I need the running header to pick up either instance of those; as it stands, InDesign can only pick up one style at a time...

    You have to define a running header based on a character style and apply
    the char style to your titles.
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    paragraph-based running header text variables.

  • Text Variables Not Appearing Correctly in InCopy

    In working on a project I have discovered that the text variables do not properly appear in some of my InCopy assignments. I have tried deleting the assignments and recreating them, synchronizing the variables in the whole book, and checking in and out the assignments in InDesign. None of the approaches I have tried have resolved the issue. Hoping someone in the community may have run across this issue before and knows what I'm missing.
    Correct Dates in InDesign                                                                                                                  Incorrect Dates in InCopy

    You can start by running a variable report in Robohelp. Tools > Reports > Variables.
    Make sure all your variables are accounted for in the Robohelp project. If not, reimport the files and let Robohelp rebuild everything.
    Assuming that your variables are recognized by Robohelp, then in FrameMaker you can try this. Select the heading in question, and then click Heading 1 in your paragraph catalog. Next, while the heading is still highlighted, click Default Font in your character catalog. This should remove any additional character formatting on the variable itself.
    Make sure you've mapped styles for paragraphs and character formats in Robohelp. Right-click the referenced FrameMaker book in Robohelp. Click Properties, and then select the Style Settings tab. Click Edit in the Style Mappings area. Select Character Styles in the Style Mapping Type box. You'll want to make sure you've get every FrameMaker style mapped to an acceptable Robohelp style.
    That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Hope it helps point you in the right direction.
    Jason

  • Text variables with multiple lines

    Like in my other question: we typeset a lot of juridical books.
    We use text variables in the header for showing the current chapter and for example current author of that chapter.
    So we let the paragraph style of the chapter show in the header.
    When the title is longer then 2 lines in the header, Indesign pushes everything on 1 line. It becomes unreadable.
    We have a solution by putting 2 character style variables underneath each other on the master page or just manually make a new master with the good title on 2 or more lines.
    I have to ask Adobe to look to this 'issue', is this the right place?

    No this isn't the right place - this is a user to user forum -
    You can add your request here https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform
    What I do is - setup a nested style for
    Runhead line 1 up to 50 characters 
    Runhead line 2 up to end nested style
    Of course you need to have 2 running head styles based on Character Styles
    And insert those into the master page
    Or this will save you tonnes of work
    http://in-tools.com/products/plugins/power-headers/

  • Text variable + text with tabs to align away from spine

    Hello
    I need a document header that shows the chapter captions. So I created a text variable that picks the format of the caption.
    But the chapter captions have tabs:
    I.>Introduction
    So in the header, on the left pages it looks fine:
    alignment is "away from spine"
    I.>Introduction
    But on the right page the chapter number remains with the spine, only the text after the tabs aligns "away from the spine":
    I.                 >                                   Introduction
    I found it difficult to search for this on google and the forum (and no result) - and hope I made it clear in the text above I can't believe it's a rare problem and really hope I just oversee something and it can be solved..
    Thank you!!

    Some details about how the paragraph is constructed would help. I'm guessing here that the variable is a running head variable based on paragraph style, and that the nmber is manually typed, along with the tab, rather than being a numbered list.
    If that's the case, substituting one or more em spaces or other fixed-width spaces in combination for the tab should solve the problem in the headers, but may cause other issues in the body of the text if your intention by using the tab was to always have a variable space between the number and the words depening on how many characters there are in your number. With roman numerals and proportional fonts it would be difficult without the tab to always have the chapter title itself begin at the same x-coordinate in the frame regardless of the number.
    To overcome that issue, you can use two variables in the header, both designated as Running Header (character style), and separate them with an em-space or similar (not a tab). If there are not already nested styles in use for the titles, create two character styles that are nothing but names, then in the paragraph style for your chapter titles go to Drop Caps and Nested Styles and apply the first character syle up to 1 tab character, None through 1 tab character, and the second character style through 1 sentence. You two character style based variables in the header will pick up the two parts of the paragraph. It seems unlikely that anyone would notice or care that the spacing is fixed between number and text in the headers but not on the page, especially since the alignment shifts from page to page.

  • How can I utilize text variable in my book which only uses data merge on the first chapter?

    Hey ladies and gents, I'm trying to automate a process here and running into trouble. I have the first chapter of a book with several data merge fields (legal documents etc), and want the later chapters to pick up from what I have already merged via text variables or SOMETHING. From what I've tried, the options available to me are limited and buggy.
    Using the running header with character styles almost worked, but it removes all visual tracking in text around it (I assume this is a bug) and it only works for the first/last instance of the style. I need something that will fill in all instances.
    Here is an example of what I'm doing. In the ch1 document of my book I data merge the Name, Age and Occupation of a person. In chapter two I want to have a variable that takes the name that was merged in ch1. Any ideas? Doesn't seem possible!

    I need some solution that references live text, specifically different fields that have been data merged. This solution needs to work between documents, so your cross-reference suggestion was in the right direction. If I data merge 'Plan Name' from a CSV file into my first document and mark it with something (character style, paragraph style, text anchor etc), I want to have places in my other documents that pull that exact text from the first.
    If document 1 says 'the plan is XXXX', document 2 will copy that name, i.e. 'According to plan XXXX'. Whatever solution this is it's what I'm looking for.

  • Both Chinese and English in running header

    Hi-
    I have mixed Chinese and English in my book without any problems. However, I have one heading with both Chinese and English and the Chinese characters will not show in the running header, only crossed out squares.
    Got any ideas? Lars

    I'm back for a bit before I go out to walk the dog.
    I've been looking at the screen captures you provided, and I'm almost ceertain I know what the problem is. I don't have the LiSong font, though, so I'm not 100% sure.
    It looks to me like you are using a combination of the LiSong and Arno Pro, with your English text set in Arno Pro and the Chinese in LiSong. That's fine so far, it will probably also be OK if you are using LiSong for the English in the body text, too.
    In your running headers you've switched to an italic font, and, I think, therein lies the problem. I'm certainly not versed in typesetting Chinese, but my understanding is that there are no italics, and it looks to me like the entire running header is set in Arno Pro italic. Arno Pro does not have any Chinese glyphs, so you get the x-boxes. If you select the variable for the chines text and change the font to the LiSong I think they will go away and your correct glyphs will return.
    Also, it looks like you have the header repeating because you've got both the two character style variables and aparagraph style variable. You don't need the last one if you use the first two.
    And finally, and I probably should have mentioned this earlier, the character styles applied to this text don't necessarily need to do anything at all tothe formatting to work for defineing variables, as long as they have unique names. This allows you to name different parts of a paragraph without affecting the text in any way, but you can then apply separate formatting to your individual variables. In this particualr case, if I'm correct that you are using ArnoPro for the English and LiSong for the Chinese in the body text, it's probably appropriate to create a "Chinese" character style that includes the LiSong font (but not a size or color so you can apply it anywhere in your text and it will match the surrounding type except for the face), and an "English" style that is only a name.

  • Text Variable Ordinal Indicators

    Hi
    I'm using InDesign CS5.5.
    Could someone tell me whether it is possible to create an automatic text variable date which contains ordinal indicators after the day number (e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)?
    Cheers
    Mark.

    I think not. A varaible, as far as ID is concerned, is a single character, so wahtever formatting is applied applies to the entire variable. The only way to format different parts of the string differently would be to break the string into multiple variables. You can do this with a running header, for example, by using styles inthe text you want to pick up and stringing together a set of character style -based running header variables, but I don't know how you would attempt to do such a thing withthe date variables.

  • R/H wihtout numbers in Text variables

    Hi all,
    I need clarification about the Running Header. In my job, H1 style comes in (ex. 1.1 Introduction, 1.2 Sun) etc., In the Running Head i need H1 text only not numbers. Is it possible in Text variables?
    Thanks in advance

    If it's automatic numbering, the numbers will not be picked up.
    If it's manual numbering, you'll have to apply a character style to the text part of the paragraph.
    Power Headers could make your life easier... http://in-tools.com/powerheaders.html
    Harbs

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