That is why we give out free reader plug-in version for all plug-ins that do require the missing plug-in warning tag to be included in the documents.

>which reminds me that I have to purchase it before my book turns into a pumpkin.

- actually, after the 14 days the plug-in will turn into the free reader, not a vegetable The reader will still allow you to live/manually update, convert references to text and delete markers.

> Regarding the insane blinking mouse arrow, I was able to get it to settle down by deselecting the Live Update option and waiting a while.

Live updates in complex documents can be demanding, there’s also manual update you can run before exporting to make sure your references are up to date.

You are correct that this is a TOC issue. I misinterpreted my coworker’s comments about the book files and the plug in. Turns out that she was trying to fix some formatting in our TOC styles and could not do it because of my use of the DTP plug in. She can indeed open the chapters despite my use of the plug-in.

What that means for our work flow is that I’m now the only writer who can update cross references and update the TOC. So, I’ll be doing all the PDF production tasks too–unless I can get everyone to purchase and install the plug-in.

David said:
“How could InDesign update the TOC if there were no plug-in? (After all, it’s the plug-in that does the work.)”

I don’t understand. InDesign’s TOC functionality worked fine before I installed the plug-in. Why is it the plug-in that does the work of updating the TOC?

David said:
“But perhaps you’re encountering a limitation of the trial version?”

I am not aware of any limitations. I think it’s a full version for 14 days, which reminds me that I have to purchase it before my book turns into a pumpkin.

Regarding the insane blinking mouse arrow, I was able to get it to settle down by deselecting the Live Update option and waiting a while. I had tried that previously, but was apparently not patient enough. I have to remember to enable it again before PDFing the book so that the page numbers are updated.

Thanks,

–Jared

The bug? If you have sections within a document that have section prefixes set to not be included in page names — a slightly odd combination, but certainly valid — while the prefixes indeed do not show up on the pages themselves, they do appear in a generated TOC. This applies only to sections that start on other than the first page of a document.

Dave

Because I am using InDesign for technical documentation, I often need to refer to caption numbers, numbered steps, and heading text.

I only tried Teus de Jong’s script briefly, so please let me know if I am overlooking its full capabilities.

Because the Cross-References plug-in from DTPtools got such great reviews, I quickly downloaded and installed the trial version. It works very well and is quite intuitive. However, it has a couple of issues that I’d appreciate some help with because I’ve gotten no reply from DTPtools’ Support.

I sent my files to a colleague who did not install the plug in and she could not open the files that had cross reference markers or update the TOC. That’s a pretty big limitation because I’m the only writer in our workflow who needs the cross referencing plug in.

Another issue is that my mouse arrow blinks insanely when I’m working on files that have cross reference markers. I may soon go insane as well.

Please post a workaround if you’ve dealt with these problems before.

Thanks,

–Jared

Pasadena, California

JC and Eugene: No, XML and the Tag menu is not meant for cross-references. It’s apples and oranges.

XML is a deep subject, and Olav Martin Kvern and I cover it in a bit of detail in Real World InDesign. Jim Maivald is going into even more depth in his book, A Designers Guide to InDesign and XML.