Rule beneath multi-column text box

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    • #74101
      paul ponge
      Member

      Hi there,

      I have a document with a two-column (split-column) text box on each page. Each text box will contain a new text and the height of the text box will be adjusted according to the length of text, so that both columns are of equal length. I would like to have a rule below the text box which spans both columns and which moves with it, so that I don’t have to manually place the rule on each of the 400 pages of the document. Any ideas or work-arounds would be much appreciated.

      Best,

      Paul

    • #74102

      Simply place a textbox below the text box with the text, which only contains some spacing-caracters, with a paragrafstyle with a paragraf rule. The underlying text box should be same size as the text box with the text i when it is largest, and then make sure that the text box have text wrap appyied to it. Then the text box will push the text with the rule up and down, depending on how large your text box is.

    • #74103

      You can create a paragraph style for the last paragraph in your text box, apply a rule below with your desired settings and set it to span the column with a negative left indent value set to your column width plus the width of your gutter. This way the rule moves with your text as you adjust the height of your text box while spanning both columns.

    • #74104

      @Dirk: That way you have to apply that paragraf style on every single page manually – that was not what the answer was about :o)

    • #74105
      paul ponge
      Member

      Thank you, Niels, that’s quite a next solution. However, sometimes I have a second text box (when the text is in two languages) ranging upwards from the bottom of the page (in which case the shifting rule has to run along the top of the text box). These not infrequent exceptions would, I think, make your solution rather difficult to set up.

      Dirk: Thanks. I had thought of that, but there are instances when the text runs over several pages, in which case your solution wouldn’t work – or at least be a hassle to implement.

      Seems strange that there’s not an equivalent of a Paragraph Rule for objects.

      Any other thoughts?

      I really appreciate the help.

      Paul

    • #74106
      paul ponge
      Member

      Update: I think I’ve figured out how I could use your work-around, Niels, but it would still require a bit of fiddling on some pages. If someone can come up with a even simpler method that would be great….

    • #74107
      David Blatner
      Keymaster

      I would draw a line and then anchor it as the first character in the text frame. (Actually, it doesn’t matter where in the frame it is anchored.) Then use the Anchored Text Options dialog box to position it where you want it. See this post:
      https://creativepro.com/creating-dynamic-layouts-objects-move-text-added.php

    • #74134
      paul ponge
      Member

      Thank you, David. That’s perfect.

    • #74149
      paul ponge
      Member

      Hi David,

      Perhaps I’m stupid, but I’ve read your article several times and still can’t for the life of me figure out how to solve this with anchored objects, though I feel it should be possible.

      To clarify my situation:

      I have a two-column text box. I want a rule spanning this text box, positioned, say, 4mm below the baseline of the lowest line (which might be in the first column or the second, depending on how the text flows. I want the rule to maintain this position when I make the text box smaller or larger (in height) and also when the text flows onto the next page.

      Sorry to bother you with this, but if you could give me some more clues as to how to solve it, that would be great.

      Thanks,

      Paul

    • #74150
      David Blatner
      Keymaster

      It’s tricky with a line — you typically need to apply an object style to the line before cutting and pasting the line in. And for what you want, the line has to be anchored as the last character in the story, which is dangerous because it’s too easy to delete it when you’re editing text.
      That said, check out this IDML file and see how it works. Add and remove text and you’ll see that it adjusts.

    • #74157
      paul ponge
      Member

      Thank you very much, David.

      Unfortunately, however, I don’t think this will work (anchoring the rule to the last character in the story): sometimes the text flows across two or more text boxes/pages and I want the rule beneath all of the text boxes, not only the last in the story.

      Perhaps Niels’ solution is the best work-around?

      Thanks,

      Phil

    • #74159
      David Blatner
      Keymaster

      Oh, I thought you wanted it just at the end of the story.
      Yeah, there’s just no good/easy way to do this. That is an unusual design, for sure.
      Good luck!

    • #74161
      paul ponge
      Member

      OK, thanks anyway David – I appreciate your help.

      Paul

    • #14323860
      Civi Bernath
      Participant

      Niel, great idea!
      I needed this trick for a different purpose.

      I’m making a book with commentary and the height of the text frame will vary based on how long the commentary is. I will be manually adjusting the text frames as I go. I put another text frame behind the story frame in the master page, but in order for it to be affected by the text wrap, it needs to be released from the master.

      Am I making myself clear?

      Is there a way to release all master items in a document at a time?
      I put my rule below on a separate layer, so I can turn off all other layers.

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