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Theunis De Jong.
avid01Hi,
InDesign n00b here. I've searched the net and this site but can't seem to find an answer for what I'm sure is a blindingly obvious oversight on my part.
I can select a frame, then Shift+click to select another. But I can't do this across spreads – if the frames are on different spreads it'll shift the selection to the new click rather than adding it to the group.
This doesn't make any sense to me and it's really slowing things down – what's the story?
Thanks!
AnonymousYou can't do this.
avid01Why not? Is there a well-known rationale for this or is it just 'because'? Surely this would be a relatively simple script to write… not for me of course, for someone else. Someone else with skillz.
AnonymousDon't know why it's not enabled.
Can you tell use what you're trying to do – there might a way to do what you want.
IT's natural to assume you could select across multiple spreads, but when you can't it's frustrating. But there probably is another way for you to do what you want.
So, let us know what you're trying to do and see how we can help.
avid01Sure…
My job requires a lot of image-intensive pdf construction. But the people running the show don't know what order they want the images in until they see them all next to each other in the document.
So I lay up, for example, 100 images and then have to move them around to suit. But if one image is on page 50 and one on page 1, switching them is fairly tough. I downloaded the script to swap images from the link below. And now I want to be able to click on the image on p50, scroll up to p1, Shift-select the other image and swap them. Cutting and pasting seems much less efficient.
Any ideas?
Thanks Eugene.
David BlatnerIt's a common request, but as Eugene pointed out earlier, it's not possible. InDesign simply does not allow you to select two objects if they are on different spreads. Each spread acts completely independently of the other.
avid01OK David, guess I'll just have to live with it.
I'd be very interested to hear why Adobe haven't added this function, if you have any idea? Surely not hard to 'fix'. And I'd also be interested how you'd go about this – is it just a cut-paste-movex2 scenario?
AnonymousNot really sure why it's done like that – you'd have to check that with Adobe – there's a wishlist area on the website you can request features – not all are implemented though – https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform
I'm not really sure I fully follow your request, is there anyway you can elaborate with images or something?
Dwayne HarrisI don't think it's that big of a deal, nor a common request, but that's just me.
To me the OP's problem is not InDesign, but the work flow methods and the “people running the show.”
And I don't mean to come across the wrong way, but if the issue is so simple to *fix* then the OP should do it, instead of saying it's easy, but he/she can't do it themselves. If it is so easy, he/she could do it.
I don't see what needs to be “fixed.”
avid01Hi again, I know this is massively delayed but I do appreciate the comments.
Just wanted to note that my comment about someone else fixing it was very tongue in cheek – I certainly wouldn't seriously label something 'easy' while I sit back unable to do anything! Ah, the internet.
I do however expect Adobe to provide the functionality required by users, even if that functionality doesn't always represent the 'right' or even most efficient workflow. Some people just use the program a different way, and I'd venture that this feature would be *relatively* easy to implement for a highly-skilled team such as Adobe's.
Docbud, have you never wanted to shift+click images across different spreads? Can you not see a situation where someone, somewhere would need to do so? And if it's a regular need for at least some people, I don't think it's unreasonable to go searching for answers why a feature, which would make life easier, isn't included.
Cheers.
Dwayne Harrisavid01–I gotta admit I never had the situation arise.
But why do you *expect* Adobe to add a function that may (or may not) be barely used? Are they supposed to be mind-readers?
I can only suggest you contact Adobe (someone here probably has the e-mail address) and submit your wish list.
Cheers as well and hopefuly Adobe will implement what you feel is needed into the next version of the program.
Colin Flashmani'm kinda with doc on this… there would be very few occasions where i'd have to shuffle lots of pictures or content over various spreads. that's not to say there's faults with the workflow, its just not a situation which crops up often with me.
however, may i suggest some workarounds? the shortcut to go to page is ctrl J. for example, a pic and some related text on p3 needs to be on p68. group and cut the selection, then ctrl J and type 68; and then paste onto the pasteboard. now, grab the content which needs to be swapped and cut that, ctrl J and go onto p3 and paste.
another workaround is to make a library. same scenario as above, but move the content into the library rather than copy it. ctrl J to the destination page and drag the content from the library. delete the item from the library and then grab the content to be moved into the library and ctrl J to the replacement page.
the third workaround would be to use snippets. that is, drag the content onto the mac/windows desktop. this will become a “snippet” which, when dragged into the destination page, comes back in as the content which it originally appeared.
i think what is making the process so difficult is the scrolling from spread to spread, especially if high-res preview is turned on with dozens of pictures. using the goto page shortcut ctrl J will make short work of scrolling. alternatively, a workflow which works for me is to have my pages palette open on the left hand side using the full height of the screen. i turn the placeholders off (or the pages palette takes forever to redraw and slows the machine down something fierce) but it allows me to see about 19-20 spreads all at once.
i hope this helps. if you do find a script which lets you swap content between spreads, please post the link as it would always be handy.
colly
avid01docbud – yes, sorry, I phrased that badly. I was just trying to point out that coming to a place like this for insight/workarounds is often a much quicker way of getting results than going through the 'official' process. And that just because not many people work the same way as we do, it doesn't mean it's wrong.
colly – thanks, that's all very helpful. you're right, it is the scrolling that hurts the most!
Thanks again people and I'll hunt around to find that adobe suggestions address.
Theunis De JongYou can always open an additional window view of the same document and have these views side by side. You can easily drag items from one side to another.
In the mean, I've written a script that just might make life a bit easier: MagicObjectSwapper.
There is nothing really 'magically' about it (unless you don't know how to write scripts); it puts a 'marker' in the Script Label of the item you have currently selected, or — if it finds an item with that particular label — it asks you if it should swap the two around.
You can also remove the marker, but it's really not necessary. If you want to mark another object, it'll automatically remove the previous one.
A few trivial notes:
1. It only, and exclusively, works with items that are placed immediately onto a page (or master page, as it happens). It does not work with objects inside other objects. I probably could add that, but it may lead to a whole new snakepit of probable problems.
2. It doesn't work cross-document. As in the previous point, it can probably be added, but I just didn't feel like it. Besides, copying between two documents is fairly easy already.
3. It doesn't really check if the object you are moving around is locked. No idea what will happen if it is. Probably the script just stops with an error.
4. It's layer-illiterate. It doesn't know layers, doesn't remember layers, and doesn't care about layers.
5. There are a few other utilities that use script labels (sorry, was it APID? Numb brain to-day). This script might accidentally overwrite a label that was used for something else. If unsure, open the Script Label panel and click on a few items. If you see data appear, you were apparently using something already.
The script is a bit too long to post verbatim, so I'll just give you the download link: https://www.jongware.com/binari…..wapper.zip
Enjoy!
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