Jun. 28, 2008
Do you enjoy selecting the same object types on your page over and over? I don’t!
Did you know there is a scripts panel inside InDesign? It’s one of those hidden features many people overlook, but has tremendous power if used in the right context. For any unfamiliar with the world of scripting, in essence it’s a form of automation that brings InDesign to life. Scripts allow the user incredible power in doing the types of things that can become somewhat of a chore. Like selecting the same object types on your page. How do you select all the text frames on your page? By shift clicking, right? Well, have I got something to show you!
The Select Objects script inside InDesign is a real time saver. It allows you to select all the objects of a particular type, or even multiple types, on your page at once. You can choose from any of the following, Rectangles, Ellipses, Polygons, Graphic Lines, Text Frames, Groups, Images, PDF’s and EPS’s. I anticipate the light bulb in your head just went off? Followed by the frustration of always wanting to be able to do such a thing and not realizing it was right there in front of you, yes?
Lets take a look at how it works. If you go to the “Window” menu, down to the “Automation” sub-menu and choose “Scripts”, the scripts panel will appear. You will see two folders inside the Scripts panel, an “Application” folder, where all the default Indesign scripts are located, and a “User” folder, where all the custom scripts you add to InDesign are to be stored.
Open the “Application” folder. Inside the Application folder you will see a “Samples” folder, open it. Next locate the script called SelectObjects, inside either the apple script or java scripts folder. If your wondering what the difference is between apple script and java script is, java script is cross platform, Mac and PC.
Now you’re ready to select a particular object type, let’s select all the text frames on your page, go ahead and double click on the SelectObjects script. A dialogue now appears. Make sure “Text Frames” is checked and all the other options, Rectangles, Ellipses, Polygons, Graphic Lines, Groups, Images, PDF’s and EPS’s are deselected and choose “OK” (see image below). Now all the text frames that were on the active page are selected.
If you’re wanting to select multiple object types, Rectangles and Ellipses for instance. Make sure you have both checked and when you choose “OK”, all the rectangles and ellipses on the page will be selected. How easy!
There is a slight catch, this script selects objects on locked or hidden layers, resulting in objects on locked and hidden layers being selected. You still can’t move or format the objects on the locked or hidden layers though. This may or may not be a problem for you.
For anyone wanting to find out more about scripting or what the other inbuilt InDesign scripts do, check out this link, http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/scripting
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