Steve T. wrote
InDesign automatically inserts text into the section prefix field, causing problems with a third-party plug-in, Made-To-Print. The plug-in gets confused between the actual page number and the “Sec:1” text, causing lots of errors in output. We’re forced to manually delete the text from this field for every multi-page layout in the magazine. Very inefficient. So I guess the question is: is there a way to force InDesign to keep Section Prefix field blank?
Steve, believe me when I say how much I hate that “Sec:” text, which InDesign automatically adds as in the Prefix field each time you create a new section (using the Section & Numbering feature in the Pages palette). I can only assume that Adobe inserts this prefix in order to help “build character” or perhaps just to annoy us.
Unfortunately, I can’t think of any good way to change this preference, so I’ve done what you’ve done: Manually selected and deleted the “Sec:” in the Prefix field. Until now.
Dave Saunders, scripter extraordinnaire, wrote the following script, which both erases anything in the Prefix field for every section in the open document and makes sure the Include Prefix When Numbering Pages option is turned off. (The latter is completely unnecessary, since there is no Prefix, but it’s what Dave calls a “belt and bracers” solution.)
//DESCRIPTION: Delete all section prefixes and switch them off
if (app.documents.length > 0) {
aDoc = app.activeDocument;
aDoc.sections.everyItem().sectionPrefix = “”;
aDoc.sections.everyItem().includeSectionPrefix = false;
}
Note that you can download this little script by clicking here. Don’t know how to install scripts? Click here for instructions. If this saves you oodles of time, feel free to send a little PayPal donation to davesaunders [at] pdsassoc.com. Of course, use it at your own risk, and so on.
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on June 16, 2006
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