Feature Question: Markers

[john_miano@adobeforums.com]

As the answer to my previous question was a surprising but resounding NO all around, let me try this one....

It is possible to embed non-printing markers in an Indesign document that another [custom?] application or script can read? e.g something along the lines of an index marker.

[Dave_Saunders@adobeforums.com]

Yes.

Just make an invisible graphics item (no stroke or fill) and put it wherever you like. You can use Scripting Labels to put as much or as little information in such a marker as you like.

If you want it to flow with text, it becomes a little more difficult because I don't think you can make such a thing completely zero-widthed. But you can come close and if you're careful about where you put them (e.g., between the final period and the paragraph marker), they'll have very little impact -- mind you, there's always the danger they'll be accidentally deleted if they're invisible.

But that applies to index markers too.

Dave

[Dave_Saunders@adobeforums.com]

At one point, when I was considering something like this, I toyed with the idea of picking periods in the text and converting them to outlines. They could then carry script labels and so they would be both visible and yet unobtrusive. You could even then highlight them by script if a user wanted to know where the markers were (by changing their color, say -- benefit: doesn't affect text flow).

Dave

[Scott_Falkner@adobeforums.com]

The "End Nested Style" character is invisible, so long as you aren't using nested styles. It can be searched in exported tagged text. Find the first one (it probably looks like a hollow box), and copy & paste it into the Find dialogue.

[Dave_Saunders@adobeforums.com]

I don't think I'd sacrifice nested styles for something like this, but indeed that character is available. You can't tag it with information, though, in the manner in which you can with graphic entities.

The character can be typed from the keyboard if you set a shortcut (I use Ctrl-\) and it appears as a \ when show invisibles is on.

Dave