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• • July 17, 2013 at 11:08 am #34285
    Ana Barbara

    Member

    Hello :)

    I need to create a numbered list in which the numbers are not sequential. For instance, I need to have four ‘1’s in a row, then a few ‘2’s, some ‘5’s, etc.

    Normally, a list would be:

    1. text
    2. text
    3. text
    etc

    but I need

    1. text
    1. text
    1. text
    2. text
    2. text
    5. text
    10. text
    10. text
    etc

    I am designing the layout of a book and importing the text from a document in Word.

    I have looked everywhere on how to do this but can’t find a solution.

    I would be so grateful if anyone could help.

    Thank you so very much

  • July 17, 2013 at 12:02 pm #34286
    Justin Sligh

    Member

    Ana,

    Could you provide some additional information? To my knowledge, you can’t do automatic non-sequential numbering similar to your description. If you provide some additional details, we might be able to provide a solution.

    How are the lists formatted in Word?
    How are these lists being used in the document.
    What purpose do they serve (table of contents, indexes, etc.).
    Do you have the range of possible numbers? Will is always be 1-10 What is the max number?
    Feel free to add anything else that might be relevant.

    • July 17, 2013 at 12:49 pm #34288
      Ana Barbara

      Member

      Hi Justin

      Thank you for your reply :)

      Answering your questions, and I hope I’ll make sense and am not too long!

      I am doing the layout of a translated book. I have received the translation in word and the original document as a PDF and was asked by the publisher to follow the design of the original edition. So, it looks like this sort of sequenced listing can, somehow, be done…!

      For each chapter in the book the author has created commentaries, which are placed at the end of the book as ‘notes’. For each page there are a few commentaries and it is the number of the page that has to appear before each commentary. For instance, if there are three comments on page 40, the list appears as

      40. [text][/text]
      40. [text][/text]
      40. [text][/text]

      This is the case for the whole book, which has 252 pages of text. (Page 252 has 4 entries, for instance.)
      Not all the pages have commentaries but most do.

      I received the translation in Word as (I have here shortened the entries so as to not lengthen this post too much)

      “…
      15 a emergente rede chinesa «shanzhai»: Nicholas Schmidle, …
      15 as máquinas conseguem realmente «imprimir» objetos: «The Pr…
      16 uma réplica de uma moto em tamanho real: Patrick Col…
      18 «robôs sociais» capazes de reconhecer os gestos humanos: Sar…
      18 Em 2012, uma equipa de um laboratório de robótica do Japão: Hel…
      …”

      and I’d like to have the list so that the numbers were on a column to the left and the text on a column to the right, indented in relation to the numbers (on the left).

      If I could send a screen shot that would greatly help to visualise, but I don’t think I can do it in here?

      I really hope I managed to be clear. Please let me know if anything needs further clarification.

      Thank you so very much again for considering this question. I so appreciate your help.

  • July 18, 2013 at 2:43 am #34312
    Ana Barbara

    Member

    I think I might have come up with the solution. Perhaps I have been looking into the wrong place all along — it’s a question of making a table, it has occurred to me.
    But thank you to everyone who had a look at my question.

  • July 18, 2013 at 5:25 am #34314
    Justin Sligh

    Member

    Ana,

    Hmm. I posted a response yesterday; however, I don’t see it here. In my response that did not post, I talked about whether the client would want to flexibility to provide the book digitally to readers. Something to consider.

    May I ask what your solution was? Did you drop the list of endnotes into excel, parse the number into a separate column and then paste into InDesign?

    • July 18, 2013 at 5:49 am #34315
      Ana Barbara

      Member

      Hi Justin

      Thank you for getting back on this issue.

      I did talk with the publishers yesterday about the digital version. The way it works with this client is that I provide the ‘Indesigned’ print version and then they adapt.

      My solution is — hopefully will work, I am about to start now — to simply convert the text pasted directly from Word in Indesign into a table; after setting up the text properly and created the table style.

      Thank you!

  • July 18, 2013 at 6:29 am #34316
    Justin Sligh

    Member

    If the document is to be read digitally, I would consider the flexibility of dynamic endnotes. A reader would be able to click the reference and go straight to the note.

    You may save some time if you add Excel to the workflow.

    1. Paste all of the endnotes into column A of a new excel document.

    2. Add the following function to column B
    =LEFT(A1, SEARCH(” “,A1)-1)

    3. Add the following function to column C
    =RIGHT(A1, LEN(A1) – SEARCH(” “,A1))

    You now have the numbers and notes in separate cells similar to your InDesign layout and can cut and paste. Should save the time it would take to manually type the numbers and remove them from the notes column.

    Good luck on your project.

    • July 18, 2013 at 6:49 am #34317
      Ana Barbara

      Member

      Hi Justin

      Thank you!!

      It definitely seems like a much more skilful and economic solution to the problem as a whole!

      You’ve been so helpful and kind and I’m sure this post will help others facing the same issue.

      And thank you also for the good wishes, best wishes for you too :)

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