Can InDesign have Edge Indexing? 1

[becatlibra]

I'm not sure if that is what it is called - where there are blocks with text and the edge of every page which contain the section name. Then the blocks get further down the page from chapter to chapter.

I have spent a while looking around and I can't even figure out what this is CALLED let alone if InDesign can add this feature (where it would move the boxes when you rearrange chapters)

Any info would be helpful

Thanks

Benjamin

 

[Ekwoman]

Maybe you mean Tabs? Are you wanting Chapter 1 (for instance) to be at the top outside of the page running vertically? Then Chapter 2 slightly below that? So that the reader can thumb through the pages and flip to the section they want? If so, there's no automatic way to do it.

I would set up a master page for each section and have a text box set in place for each section. If you move a section to another part of the document, you could simply change the master applied to that section. Using Section markers would help, as would using cascading master pages.

Hope that helps a little.

-Erica Gamet

 

[becatlibra]

Thanks so much - That helps a bit. I was hoping the system would have a function to manage it on it's own. Oh well . . .

One thing - What do you mean "section markers" also "cascading master pages"?

 

[Ekwoman]

Section Markers can appear automatically (like Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.). When you choose Type > Insert SPecial Character > Section Marker in a text frame on a master page and set the name of the section in Numbering & Section Options from the Pages palette (that's where you enter the wording you want, like Chapter 1, 2, etc.). That way, when you assign a Master page to a Document page it will automatically fill in the Section naming. In my InDesign classes we take about an hour to go over pages, masters, sections, etc., so it's a bit much to explain here...check out the Help in InDesign, look in the index under Section Marker, Numbering and Section Options, Parent and Child (or cascading) Master Pages...that should explain some of it.

Cascading Masters means you can have a Master page that has common elements (say page numbers and the title of the book), then have child master pages that are based on that page, with things like the Section marker on it. Then, if you make a change on the parent master, all those changes ripple down through the masters based on that parent master.

Hope that helps a bit!

-Erica Gamet