AboutRoy Wilhelm Expertise I can help you with questions about typography, style sheets, document setup, image placement, importing text, exporting, and much more.
Experience I use InDesign daily to design magazine pages. I have experience in newspaper and magazine design.
Organizations AIGA
Education/Credentials I have a Bachelor's degree in Communication Design
Expert: Roy Wilhelm Date: 6/20/2008 Subject: Nested Styles
Question QUESTION: Hi there. I am converting many long, run-on paragraphs of details to bulleted lists in an InDesign 3 document.
I have set up my Bullets paragraph style just how I would like it, including one nested style that forces the first letter of each new paragraph to be capitalized. But now I would like to insert a new command, be it a nested style or part of the regular Bullets paragraph style, that will automatically add a semicolon at the end of each bullet. (I also have a paragraph style called "Last Bullet" which would be nice to have an automatic period after.)
ANSWER: Sounds to me like you need to unleash the power of Find/Replace. I don't believe you can set up a style to automatically put certain characters in the copy. Correct me if I'm wrong.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: But there is nothing to find and nothing to replace. There is just a bulleted line of text. I tried doing find/replace and saying, "OK, if there is a carriage return here, change it to a semicolon and THEN a carriage return, but just in this block of text." That didn't work, and besides, I would have had to go do that on each bulleted list.
I once saw a query on a board asking about formatting quotation marks around a block of text. The person had figured out how to make a paragraph style that would automatically put quotes at the beginning *and* the end of the text. They were only asking a formatting question which was easily addressed by a nesting style. What I want to know is, How did they make the thing automatically insert the *end* quotes?
Answer I am completely unfamiliar with this feature. Please let me know if you figure out how to do this.
As for the Find/Replace not working for you, I'd really have to see a sample of your text to know what you may be doing incorrectly. The method you described in which you replaced the paragraph return with a semicolon and a paragraph return is exactly what I envisioned. But why not take is one step further and do a document-wide Find/Replace?
Since I can't see your text I'll have to make some assumptions. I'll assume that your text looks something like this:
Header text describing the following bulleted list
• First line of text in the list
• Second line of text in the list
• Third line of text in the list
Header text describing the following bulleted list
• First line of text in the list
• Second line of text in the list
• Third line of text in the list
(and so on...)
What you would do is open Find/Replace and in the FIND box, put a paragraph return and a bullet. In the REPLACE box, put a paragraph return, semicolon and a bullet. Make sure the command is set up to be applied to the entire document. Now do the same for your last bulleted line of text. Only this time in the FIND box you'll put TWO paragraph returns and in the REPLACE box you'll put a period and two paragraph returns.
Please let me know how this goes. If my assumptions were incorrect about how your text is formatted, provide me with a sample. And if Allexperts.com won't allow more follow up with this question, please email me at rlwilhelm@gmail.com.
