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

Similar Messages

Creating TOC: order of anchored objects

Hey scripting experts,
i have a question creating an automated table of contents.
The problem is, that I am using anchored objects (text) in a text frame/story. Let's assume there is a text frame, starting with the anchor of an anchored object that contains the "headline # 1" and is placed e.g. on the top of the page. The anchor is followed by "headline #2" and "headline #3" (both simple text, no anchored object).
When generating toc, the order of the headlines will not be read as desired. The anchored object unfortunately is not added at first, but at the end. So the generated order is: #2, #3, #1. I would prefer #1, #2, #3.
Do you think, there might be a suitable (and scriptable) way to teach InDesign, to count an anchored object according to the position of the corresponding anchor in the text? Yes? I would be glad for any advice!
Thank you!
Jan

Hi Peter,
thank you very much for your quick and technically versatile reply! Unfortunately my answer reaches you slightly late – due to Easter/holidays (hopefully you spend them relaxed ...).
Nevertheless i am really glad having received your hint. At the moment i am still a bloody beginner in scripting/xml-rules, but trying hard to forge ahead. Maybe aming for a specific target causes progress ... You signalized me there probably is a solution, so with your hint at the back of my mind, i will start practicing now.
Many thanks and best regards
Jan

TextWrap and Anchored Objects

Okay, I've been using InDesign since it was PageMaker 4.3 so I'm pretty familiar with the features and the intents behind them. Lately I've had a problem for which I can't seem to find a fully acceptable work-around. It involves text-wrapping anchored objects within a large, multi page flow of text.
Boiled down to a basic description of the issue, I need a graphic to appear on a page within a text block at a certain point, that is, at the top of a justified paragraph on the extreme right side of the column. The object occupies 7 lines of text, dropping down into the paragraph from line 1. The object needs to have a word wrap applied causing the text within the block to flow around it.
The problem is that as the document evolves, the quantity of text that precedes the paragraph holding the graphic changes. As text is added to preceding paragraphs, text advances through the text blocks to a point where the graphic now begins to be displayed beyond the bottom of the text block rather than jump to the next text block. Forcing the object to stay within the text block (by using the "Keep with top/bottom column boundaries") pushes the object up, effectively leaving the original location and invading the preceding paragraph.
The first solution I tried was to anchor the object 7 lines deep in the paragraph, then manually move it up to the first line using the "Y-offset" in the "Anchored Objects Options" palette. When I do this, the object's text wrap fails (!), always working only at line 7 and below and not moving up with the object.
My current solution is to not embed the object inline at all, but place it over the text block. This works but is unsatisfactory since the text is constantly changing, forcing me to stop and reposition the graphic - plus the 500 or so similar objects that follow in similar situations further along in the document.
Any ideas?

Unfortunately, no. If the anchor is inserted at the top of the paragraph (where I want the top of the image to be), the image won't flow to the next text block when any other part of the image (i.e., any part of the image that is not on the first line where the anchor is) is beyond the end of its text block.
Here is how I want the page to look:
Here, the graphic is not placed inline but sits over the text with textwrap set.
But rather than have all my objects placed over text, I want them inline. If I place the anchor anywhere below the first line of text, (again, the line where I want the top of the image to be), text wrap won't function above the anchor point regardless of how high I move the image:
If I place the graphic in its own paragraph above the first line of the paragraph, the result works well as long as the text preceding the anchor doesn't flow any further (i.e., no additional text is added). But as text is added and once the line holding the bottom of the photo flows to a new text block, one of two problems arises. If "Keep Within Top/Bottom Column Boundaries" is checked the graphic moves up:
If "Keep Within Top/Bottom Column Boundaries" is unchecked, the graphic begins to bleed out of the text box:
I can't believe there isn't a simple (or even complex) solution to this problem...

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.

CS4 text wrap over anchored object

Every time I place an anchored object (doesn't matter if it's graphic or text frame) and apply text wrap, Indesign freezes permanently and only solution is killing it via task manager.
I opened CS3 file with anchored objects w/ txt wrap and the same freeze happens when trying to move, delete or apply different wrap settings to object.
It never happened in previous version of ID on my machine.
Any solution to this problem? Thanks.
My PC conf.:
AMD x2 2.7
2GB RAM
Vista 32bit

The first thing to try is replacing your preferences.
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/5.0/help.html?content=WSa285fff53dea4f86173837510 01ea8cb3f-6d1e.html

CS4 Linking Text Boxes Together in Anchored Objects?

Hi. Using InDesign CS4 I have a Anchored Object that I would like to link part of it to the next one in the text frame. Example: I have grouped together a text box, a box with a placed UPC from Illustrator and another text box stacked on top of each other, all lined up. I group this and place it in a text box so I can set these at different places along a 29" document. When I have overset text, in the top box for example, I see the + sign but can't grab it to try to link the text to the next text box in the Anchored or grouped object. All I can do it change the size of the box - even when holding down the command key on the Mac with the text too enabled. I am setting it up this way so all three boxes stay together when positioning on pages. I have multiple rows of these so it makes it easier to modify. If I take the grouped set out of the text box so it's by itself I can grab the overset text. I am trying to link text boxes so it's easier and faster to flow in text from another program. Thanks.
Pat

OK, I will try to get the whole page later. I want to keep what you see in the screen shot - one of the grouped objects - together as it goes across the page. So the 9232554 text and all bellow that would stay grouped together when I tab it over to line up to a certain spot on the page. This is placed in a text box that runs horizonal on the page, about 28" across. I also wanted to link the 9232554 box to the 9232729 box which is just a duplicate of the group of text and UPC code before it. But from what you say, and what I tried to do, I can't. Even when all the anchored object groups are in the same long text thread. I tried not grouping each section - the UPC code sandwiched by the text boxes, but could not place them in the long text box when not grouped togther.
I wanted to flow in the text to all 14 of these grouped or anchored objects, say all top boxes, in one 'paste' instead of doing each one at a time but keeping the 3 elements you see togther at all times.
Pat

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).

Images as anchored objects in text

I use CS4 on a Mac. I'm working on a book with photos of my art in the text. Before I've used Place to insert all images. (I use Picasa to straighten and crop my photos, they are all jpgs in high resolution, the photos are in a separate folder on my Mac).
To make the pictures anchored objects in-line, I first place the graphic, then according to the instructions I cut, then paste in text, select image, then set the anchored object above the text etc.
http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/?id=vid0073
My question is what happens to the image when you cut and paste. Does it retain it's placed format, like file size and resolution? It seems my InDesign file should be bigger with the added images.
Should I be worried?

When use File>Place to insert an image to InDesign - InDesign creates a low-res thumbnail to act as a "placeholder" to the original image.
It's very cumbersome on the computer when viewing the images in full resolution within InDesign. As it could be displaying 10mb for each image and 10 images would 100 mb per page, quite a lot to render; for example.
Anchoring objects has no bearing on the file size (well maybe a little).
The file size and resolution is not affected when you place an image. But the Resolution is affected if you SCALE the image any amount.
If you go to the Window>Info panel and select an image then you can see TWO options ACTUAL and EFFECTIVE PPI.
Actual refers to what the original PPI of the image is (ppi = pixels per inch and refers to resolution)
And Effective shows the the PPI after the image has been scaled.
For example if you place a 72 ppi image and scale it 24% it will now be Effectively 300 ppi (100/24)*72=300
For printing you should ensure that the image quality is 300 ppi (it's a general rule of thumb and it's not entirely accurate but that's what most printing places operate at as a standard).
For the record - you should resave images as JPG if you make ANY alteration to them (as a rule of thumb) saving as JPG over and over can add jpeg artifacts to the image which will degrade the image over time, as jpeg is a lossy format (information is removed with each save). A better way would be to save as TIFF as this is a LOSSLESS format - in that no data is removed upon saving.
I wouldn't recommend Picassa for your image editing. You should get Photohsop or failing that a free open source program like GIMP.

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.

Anchored Objects Stuck in Text Frame

Hello,
I have updated from CS4 to CS6 and am now having a problem with being able to edit anchored objects from a file that I used to work off of in the CS4 version.
I am working on a catalog that has product assessory boxes that are made up of images and text. In CS4, I created the accessory boxes, grouped all the items and pasted it in the text frame that held the text and photos of other products. I used to be able to edit the text or cut and paste the accessory box out of the text frame it was placed into. Now since I have upgraded to CS6 I cannot edit them at all, when I try to select the box with the selction tool or highlight the text with the type tool nothing will happen. The only thing I can do is hightlight the whole box and cut and paste it into another text frame I create, which doesnt help because I still cannot edit them.
In CS6, I have created an accessory box from scratch, and followed the same process as I have before and I can edit and select like I used to do. The problem only seems to come with the accessory boxes I have created in CS4.
This is a pretty large catalog, and will take a lot of time to recreate all the accessory boxes, so any suggestion to help fix the problem will be greatly appriciated.
Thank you!

Long shot, but go to the application preferences and uncheck the box in the General section that says Prevent Selection of Locked Objects.

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

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

[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

Text to anchored objects

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