By: Michael Murphy
January 12 2007 • 5:00 PM
The InDesigner - Episode 35: Long Documents, Part 3 - Advanced TOC Features
Picking up right where the last installment finished, I continue to edit and adjust my Table of Contents, demonstrating the “proper” way to add and remove entries, the flexibility of updating a TOC, how to fix mistakes, and how to get around certain (unfortunate) limitations of the feature. Finally, the big payoff…using the TOC features to generate a fully bookmarked and hyperlinked Table of Contents when exporting a book to PDF.
Download it now or watch it in your browser:
The InDesigner - Episode 35 (29.9 MB, 13:22 minutes)
I needed this series on Long Documents about 3 months ago, shame on you for not knowing MY needs. I never had to fool around with Indexes so next podcast will be very interesting.
Big Fan, keep up the good work.
File is either corrupted or just won’t work on a simple intell procuct.
I think whatever problem you’re having is on your end, Alfred. I have successfully downloaded the file, viewed it in the browser and had it sync with and play in my iTunes library. What’s the specific issue?
Thank you for this series! I am in the middle of a book layout and these episodes have been extremely useful. My TOC has improved dramatically, both in looks and utility, as a direct result. I anxiously await the next podcast, because the index is looming in my immediate future. BTW, the podcast worked fine on my intel box.
You are simply amazing! Your video podcasts are addictive for some reason. Do you have some type of subliminal message in the music or what?
Michael, great episode! I’m really enjoying this series.
I’d like to add a couple tips or “alternative techniques” to the TOC instruction you’ve so deftly provided so far … don’t think you mentioned these, but if you did, apologies.
I’m posting it here in your comments so “all TOC-related info” on indesignsecrets.com is in one place 
1. About PDF Bookmarks … a file or book’s TOC will generate automatic bookmarks in a PDF only if the user remembered to turn on that checkbox (”Create PDF Bookmarks”) in the TOC dialog box before generating it and placing it. The option to create bookmarks is not turned on by default, so it can be perplexing to users why bookmarks aren’t generated. (Even if you turn on Include Bookmarks in the Export to PDF dialog box, no bookmarks are generated for the TOC if you forgot to tell it to make the bookmarks in the first place.) If you forgot, it’s a simple matter to turn it on and update the TOC, then re-export to PDF (remembering, as you said, to Include Bookmarks.)
2. A related tip is that sometimes you want bookmarks in a PDF but you don’t want a TOC in the document itself … say, for example, a long newsletter. In this case, you can maintain a “production” TOC in frames on the pasteboard. As long as you turned on PDF Bookmarks in the TOC dialog and Include Bookmarks in the Export to PDF dialog, you’ll get a bookmarked PDF without a TOC.
3. You showed how you can prevent text from appearing in a TOC on a case-by-case basis by selecting the text in the document (”Introduction”) and choosing Break Link to Style. Since the TOC is just sucking in all text linked to a style, it doesn’t include that instance. The problem is that if you update the style definition, that text is no longer updated. Not a big deal for this one-time occurence but it can lead to problems if you use the Break Link to Style trick a few (dozen) times to fine tune what gets included in a TOC.
I would seldom use Break Link to Style in this case. Instead, click inside the text that you don’t want included in the TOC, and note that its Paragraph Style (”Chapter Head”) is highlighted in the Paragraph Styles palette, of course. Then immediately Alt/Option-click the Add Style icon at the bottom of the palette.
When you do this, a new style is created with a default name, but it’s based on the style highlighted in the palette — the one currently applied to the text/included in the TOC.
So all you need to do now (since the Styles dialog box opened when you Alt/Option-clicked it) is to rename the style to something like “Chapter Head (no TOC),” click OK to close the dialog, and click the name of your new style to apply it to the paragraph.
Since you changed nothing in the style definition itself, the text looks exactly the same. Since it’s based on the existing style, style changes you make to that existing one are automatically done to this new “(no TOC)” one, so the formatting for all your Chapter Heads (or whatever) remains the same throughout the document/book.
And of course, since this style isn’t included in your TOC, text linked to it isn’t included when a TOC is generated.
Excellent additions, Anne-Marie. Thank you so much. I knew as I was doing this that I’d miss something — this is a complex topic — and that either you or David would chime in and fill in the blanks.
My bad on the Include PDF Bookmarks. Leaving that out was a big error.
I like the hidden TOC idea, too. Very clever.
As I was doing the final edit of the episode, and listening to myself talk through the “Break Link to Style” I realized that the smarter thing to do was to make a new style based on the Chapter Name style so that it would pick up all attributes of changes to that style. Sometimes with these videos, it’s just too late to go back and fix something. Since it wasn’t technically “incorrect” I let it stay in…but your method is the more efficient and flexible way to do it.
No problem Michael! Using “in TOC” and “not in TOC” variations of the same styles is something you usually only end up having to do when you’re reverse-engineering an existing document to make a TOC, not when you’re creating a doc from scratch knowing it will have one.
I think it’s something all designers should keep in mind when they’re initially developing their styles … if the doc will have a TOC, they need to plan for how styles will be applied, knowing that ID takes an “all or nothing” approach to it. If a style name is included in a TOC, every single instance of that style will be included.
Your point about how edits made to an automatically-generated TOC will be wiped out when it gets updated (so it’s better to tweak the TOC specs than to manually format the TOC itself) was spot-on.
It would be nice, if the documents that are shown in these podcasts would also be available for download on this site, so we could repeat the steps ourselfs with the shown documents!
I would realy like that, anyone else would like this?
To add to my post: I understand that not big documents with all 80 pages could be available for download, but some short examples maybe could?
By the way: lloking at the last podcast, Am I right to think that there will be a book from ‘The Indesigner’ soon?
Wa — I’m glad I waited before responding to your first post. Now I can comment on both.
As for providing working files, that’s something that I have planned for some future episodes, where it’s appropriate. Personally, I find that practice files provided by a trainer are a crutch. I try to get into how and why things work the way they do in InDesign so that people can see the potential for improvements in their own work and skills. Going step-by-step through someone else’s work keeps the learning tied to my work…not their own. That’s me underlying philosophy, if it counts for anything.
There are some practical considerations, too. In many of these episodes, I show examples of my real work. Showing it is one thing, but distributing the real content is not within my “intellectual property” rights.
But there will be upcoming shows where you’ll have something more than my videos to download. Keep watching.
As for a book from The InDesigner soon…I hope all of you publishers out there are listening. The public demands it!
Hi Michael, great series and extremely helpful and relevant topic. I think breaking things up into bite size chunks like this (4 segments on long docs) helps with the absorbsion process, as when the next segment comes out, I’ve had time to think about and internalize the info. Bravo and keep up the good work!
–thinking out loud–
About the text on the invisible layer for a shorter version of the intro text - too bad there’s not a special character to the effect: “End TOC Link”, just like there’s an “End Nested Style” character. You’d only have to insert the character in the actual chapter intro, make sure that it’s placed before 256 characters, and the TOC would drop to the next item when it encountered this character. Wouldn’t that be a nice feature!
This document: The InDesigner - Episode 35 downloads as an mp4. My Windows XP machine does not know what this file type is. I do not have an ipod.
Alfred
Alfred — I recommend installing the latest version of QuickTime (http://www.apple.com/quicktime) on your computer. That should allow you to play this type of media. Also, the free iTunes software (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/) will play this format. You do not need an iPod.
Superb!
I can now watch these videos. I will go back as far as possible.
I am addicted to knowledge about InDesign and Adobe now and you rank up there with David and Anne-Marie.
Thanks again.
Alfred
Hmm… I tried to leave this as a comment some days ago, and it appears to have been eaten, and I see that Anne-Marie has mentioned one of the things I did, and in far more depth than I did!
However, I do want to mention that text will appear in a TOC based on its original case — so if you have, for example, a series of sidebars in the InDesign document called “Bob’s Tips”, and they are made ALLCAPS in the InDesign document, but the actual characters are not allcaps — sometime’s they’re “Bob’s Tips”, sometimes “bob’s tips”, and in one bizarre case, “bOb’s tIPs”, they will show up in the TOC like that, and won’t inherit the allcaps that are applied by InDesign.
Adam — The easy fix to this behavior (which I would argue is what you’d want in most cases) is to make sure the style applied to your TOC entries also uses an all caps setting. I think it’s proper that InDesign leaves formatting decisions up to the user…but it’s a good thing for everyone to know that this is how it works so they can plan their styles accordingly.
Did I say TOC? I said TOC … okay, no more late night posting for me. I meant that they will appear in the *bookmarks* with the original case, regardless of the original style or the style of the text in the TOC.
I just double-checked, and this appears to be the case even if the TOC style is to set them to allcaps.
New found problem!
To anyone that can help…
I am unable to view the videocast so not sure if there is an available solution to this or not:
I cant seem to get the TOC to recognise styles used on Master Pages… I have a document that includes a 3 level numbering system, however the first level numbers are all on separate master pages. When I create a TOC it will only recognise styles used in the main body text, and does not pick up my master page styles at all. Can anyone help?
Jacinta - This is a limitation of TOC functionality. If you release your master page items on the the appropriae document pages, their styles will be recognized in your TOC.
Brilliant TOC series, I was never quite aware how powerful InDesign could be. This kind of flexibility is imperative in the style of documents I’m required to produce, however I’ve come up against a bit of a problem. Whether I include multiple columns in my master or draw columns as I insert my TOC, as soon as I create a TOC of 2 or more columns, I can no longer update it. If I delete the additional columns however, it will let me update, but this doesn’t seem too practical to me. Have I missed something along the way, or are there limits when it comes to TOC’s in column setouts?
I have tried to recreate this problem, but have not been able to. I have been able to repeatedly update multi-frame, and multi-column TOCs without incident. Is it possible you’re selecting the frame (with the direct selection tool) and not putting your text cursor in the TOC text itself?
There’s my problem! So when there’s only a single column (per page) TOC, you can select it by the frame or clicking into the text itself to update it, but when there are multiple columns, the only way is with the text selection? Just want to make sure I’m understanding the way the program works.
Thanks again!
Katherine — More accurately, where there’s only a single frame making up your TOC, you can select the frame itself and have the Update option available. That frame can have multiple columns. However, when your TOC spans more than one frame, your cursor must be within the text. Whenever I need to update a TOC — regardless of the number of frames it spans — I just insert my text cursor anywhere in the existing one. This is the habit I’ve formed just to avoid confusion, because it’s the one that works under all circumstances.
awesome, michael, awesome!
Great series and very helpful. I am finishing up a 176 page product catalog and your TOC turtorial was fantastic. I am dying for the next episode covering indexes…
Here is a question I cannot seem to find an answer to. In quark text marked for index was viewable as hi-lighted, in InDesign they use the ^ carat … is there a way to see what was originally highlighted? This would make visually verifying that everything was correctly indexed very helpful (it’s pretty easy to miss a character if your not careful). I have 3200 item numbers to verify… !
Wondering where you have gone? I hope all is well. seems a long time since we heard from you.
Gary.
All is well, Gary. I really appreciate the concern, too. I have been inundated with other deadlines, and truly challenged by the topic of the next episode. However, I am cloistered away right now working on the completion of Episode 36 (at long last). Sorry to keep everyone waiting.
Glad to hear (read) you’re still there. The InDesigner has become somewhat of an addiction. I’ve learned so much from it that I can’t wait for each new episode. Keep up the wonderful job.
I was wondering myself what happened to you, i’ve missed your podcast as well
been getting it ever since you had theindesigner.com and it was truly a treat to get your videocasts 
once every one or 2 weeks. Hope everything improves for you and you will be able to “deliver the goodies once again :)”
You’ve probably had that huge mag to deal with! Hope it’s all gone well for you.
I too am addicted to your casts and although I’ve been a designer for almost 20 years and worked with ID since version 2, I have found the wealth of great tips and tricks you’ve supplied invaluable! Thank you. Murphy’s Law now has a whole new meaning for me.
-T
Thank you Mike, David and Taysh (and those of you who’ve found me by e-mail) for your concern and confession to you videocast “addiction.” You’ll all be happy to know that Episode 36 is now available. Enjoy!
Great stuff as usual, Michael. Pacing and production quality first-rate. I’ve used TOCs for a long time now and i learned something!
–Aaron
What if you have a CHAPTER NUMBER on one line and CHAPTER TITLE on another, but you want them on the same line in the TOC? Is that possible? I do mostly simple book typesetting and almost never is my CHAPTER TITLE on the same line as the CHAPTER #.
Cathleen — There are a couple of ways you could do this, but they both involve “tricks” as opposed to a built-in way to put the “Chapter 1″ text on the same line as the chapter title in the TOC.
First (and this will work in CS, CS2 or CS3), you could include the “Chapter 1″ text in the same paragraph as the Chapter title in the chapter document itself. Ideally, your opening chapter pages already say “Chapter 1″ or “Chapter 2″ in addition to the title. That’s necessary if this trick is going to wok.
However, If your design doesn’t have them on the same line (which it probably doesn’t), the trick I would use would be to put a nested Character Style in your Chapter Title Paragraph Style. You can have it triggered by an Em Space, and close up the frame to fit only the chapter number, then thread the rest (the chapter name) into another frame.
That way, you can move the “Chapter #” frame anywhere you need it on the page, and the Title frame wherever it’s supposed to go on the page. As a result, you’d have one paragraph split into two frames and positioned independently. The nested style will allow each to be styled differently as well.
As far as the TOC is concererned, however, it’s one application of a paragraph style, and the way you’ve split it betwen frames won’t matter. It will put “Chapter #–Em Space–Chapter Title” in the TOC.
Continuing on with this….
The second trick you could use is CS3-specific. You could take advantage of the new and much more powerful Numbered List feature to have the chapter number inserted automatically at the start of the entry in the TOC.
Numbered Lists in CS3 allow you to have text added before the number (in this case, the word “Chapter” and a space), and it will fill in the numbers for each instance of your Chapter Name entry style in the TOC.
Since CS3 allows for non-consecutive paragraphs to continue proper numbering sequence, you can even have a chapter description paragraph following the title, and the next chapter title style instance will use the next appropriate number.
With Numbered Lists, you can also apply a character style to the automatically-generated number and the text that precedes it through the Numbered List dialog box.
The only thing that might trip you up is if you have an introduction or other chapter before your actual Chapter 1. In that case, it will start numbering at the Introduction, not Chapter 1. In that case, you could manually override the style for the introduction entry on the TOC page, to force the proper sequencing to start with Chapter 1.
I am new to InDesign. I created a long document in the programing assuming I could add page numbers at any time, like in PM. Now I can’t figure out how to get number done. Can you help me… Tonight?
Thanks, A.L.
How can I change email addresses?
Anthony — You can add page numbers to your document at any time. The most efficient way to do this is to put a text frame on your master page(s) and put an auto page number character in that frame. In CS3, you’ll find this under Type –> Insert Special Character –> Markers –> Current Page Number. In CS2, the path is slightly different: Type –> Insert Special Character –> Auto Page Number.
I’m using InDesign with Woodwing Smart Connection, which doesn’t support the InDesign book feature. Can a TOC be created without a book? All of my files are posted in a single location on a server.
TOC’s can be created in any single document, without using the Book palette. However, if you want a TOC to pull from multiple documents, the Book palette is the only way to do it.
I’m currently working on a long manual that contains graphics followed by lines of text:
##### - Name: Description
I’m using a nested style to bold the numbers and name and leave the description normal. What I need help with is when I build the TOC I can’t select the Character Style that is the portion of the text I want to list with page numbers. Is this possible in CS2? Is there a better way to accomplish this technique?
Has anyone run into suffling TOC entries? This has happened to me in a few instances and I’ve not been able to find a fix other than manually reorganizing misplaced TOC items. Thoughts? Anyone?
I emailed a couple of weeks ago about a TOC problem I was having. I have a book of ten chapters. When I create the TOC, I am using 4 styles for it to draw from: CO name, #1 head, #2 head, and #3 heads.
When I creat the TOC, the CO name appears as it should, but any of the #1-3 heads on the first page of the chapter appear in the TOC before the CO name with the correct page number. Any other heads in the chapter on succeeding pages appear correctly after the CO name.
I am using a different master page for the CO page, but I experiemented with using the same master page for all pages, and it doesn’t make a difference.
I am also creating bookmarks when I make a PDF, and those function correctly.
So why are the heads on the first page appearing before the CO name? I did send a PDF example with my email.
I would appreciate your help so that I ultimately don’t have to go in and manually move the text into the correct position.
Tim — The PDF you sent makes the problem clear, but without the InDesign file, too, my guess is that it may be a layering issue related to the CO master page, and the order in which InDesign “reads” a page. Items on master pages are considered to be behind all other objects on that layer. If your CO name is a master page item, InDesign may be reading it after the #1 head, instead of before it. Try detaching the CO name item from the master page, or moving its layer on the master above the layer containing the other text on the document page. Let me know if that resolves the issue for you.
Thank you, Michael. Although this is the first time I’ve used ID for a book, I’ve been using ID for a number of years and love it. This is the weirdest thing I’ve come up against.
My CO contents are not on the master page; only the folios are. I used a template for each chapter, so the items are on the template, but not on the MP.
The CO name layer was under the heads, so I moved it to the top. It made sense, but unfortunately didn’t solve the problem.
I’ll try to take the images out (so it’s not so large) and package something for you to look at.
There’s something weird going on in the last chapter as well. It’s just forms, and I used your suggestion of hidden text to identify those pages. There’s about 12 pages of forms. The last 3 pages appear double in the TOC: once with CO name styling, and once as #1 head styling–both with the same correct page numbers.
These may be just bugs, and I hope they come out soon with patches.
Hi Michael. I’m so happy; I finally found the answer thanks to Peter Spier on the Adobe Forums. Here is his answer to another user:
” This could be a frame positioning issue. InDesign starts searching the page in the upper left corner and works down before moving to the right, so if, for example, your heading frame doesn’t extend all the way to the left margin, it will not get picked up before a subhead in a frame just below that does.”
I have three columns in the text, and my CO name text started within the area of the second column. So, it appears it was finding the first column text first and then the CO text.
What I did was move my text frame to the left edge and, in this case, I could use an indent to move the text back in to where I wanted it positioned.
I hope this helps other people as well.
Hello! I’m having a problem similar to Jerrod in post #42 that didn’t appear to get addressed. I have a document with paragraphs that are structured para#, para title, para text and the para style has nested character styles because 2 differnet fonts are used, and the para title is underlined. Unfortunately I cannot seem to generate a TOC that doesn’t include the para text as well (I want just the para# and para title). Is there a solution other than creating a hidden layer and putting my para#/titles on it and having the TOC pull that? I’d much rather (of course) be able to separate the text I want in the TOC from the para text itself, that I don’t want in the TOC. The suggestion above (post #6) of duplicating para styles doesn’t appear to apply to my situation. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Michael,
You have some fantastic advice here! I had been wondering how to include a chapter number before the chapter name in my TOC when number and chapter were in separate frames in the document (like Cathleen’s dilemma). Your CS3-specific solution of using Numbered Lists in the style was exactly what I needed. (I had been adding them to the TOC by hand.)
I was actually able to add “Chapter 1:” before the chapter name for every title in the TOC. Worked like a charm!
As a side note, for those of you who haven’t been using the new Insert Text Variable feature, I would highly recommend it. Works great for chapter numbers on chapter intro pages, folios, etc. ‘Cause you know someone will want to add more chapters!
Define a variable, and have fun.
Love Anne-Marie’s note about creating a new style for those entries you don’t want showing up in your TOC, also. Headings with “(continued)” after them come to mind. I was using Break Link to Style, knowing it would come back to bite me…
Thanks again! Keep up the great work.
Barry