Intro
General information and disclaimers. Installing, running, and modifying scripts. Contact information.
Links and resources
A collection of links and resources on scripting and GREP which I have found useful, informative, and otherwise noteworthy.
Various GREP utilities (CS3 and later)
Several scripts here. – Show the scope of each GREP wildcard and character class (InDesign has more than 50 now). – The Find/Change dialog is a very tight place; you can do much better – Another, simpler, GREP editor – Print an overview of all GREP styles used in a document – Print an overview of all GREP queries in the user folder – You can't chain GREP queries in the Find/Change dialog; a script remedies that – Collect the results of GREP searches in a new document.
Indexes and concordances (CS3 and later)
Create concordance (index of a word in its contexts); create indexes without using InDesign's index feature; add topics and page references form character styles or using a word list; convert page references to text; rebuild index for text markers.
Convert footnotes and imported (static) endnotes to (dynamic) endnotes (CS4 and later)
Two scripts here. When you place a Word document with dynamic endnotes in Indesign, you end up with static endnotes in the InDesign document because InDesign doesn't do dynamic endnotes. One of the scripts here fixes that. The other script converts dynamic footnotes in an InDesign document to dynamic endnotes.
Dynamic sidenotes (CS4 and later)
Using an approach similar to that to dynamic endnotes, the script converts footnotes in an InDesign document to dynamic sidenotes. The same script can also be used to set up a sidenote system in an empty document. Other scripts here make it easy to add new sidenotes and to stack sidenotes at the top, centre or bottom of a page.
Unembed pasted images (CS3 and later)
Pasted images (images without a link in the Links panel) make for bloated documents. The script saves the images to disk and creates links.
Add vertical rules to selected paragraphs (CS4 and later)
You can define horizontal rules (one before, one after) in InDesign's paragraphs, but not vertical rules. The script fixes that.
Highlighting word- and letter-spacing overrides (CS4 and later)
The scripts highlights paragraphs with overridden word and/or letter spacing.
Highlight No Break (CS4 and later)
Like word and letter spacing, the No Break attribute is not easily visible. The script highlights all text to which No Break has been applied.
Script dictionaries (PDF) (CS2 and later)
Lists with the methods, properties and enumerations available in CS2+ versions. The lists highlight the new properties, methods, and enumerations for each version.
Script launcher (CS3 and later)
The easy way to run a script: a script launcher with a configurable history list. Much more convenient than InDesign's script palette. It's the script I use most often, naturally -- couldn't live without it. (updated Feb 2010)
Batch-convert/export files (CS2 and up)
Export documents by the folder to PDF, EPS, INX, RTF or convert large numbers of documents to a newer InDesign format.
Export book documents individually (CS3 and later)
"Export book to PDF" in the book panel's flyout always creates a single PDF file. The script exports all documents in a book to separate PDFs. (Updated March 2009: script now works when more than one book is open: it processes the active book. Script is also much quicker now)
Kerning (CS3 and later)
InDesign doesn't let you modify kerning tables, but with this script you can apply your own kerning tables. (Updated February 2009)
Enter/create accented characters (CS3 and later)
Enter accented characters using easy-to-remember keystrokes; combine letters and accents; enter characters by their Unicode value. New version (May 2009).
Adjust space between footnotes and text (CS2 and later)
InDesign lets you set the minimum space between text and footnotes on a document basis only. The script enables you to set that space per page.
Show/set text variables (CS3 and later)
Display the names and values of custom text variables in a document; change them easily and create new variables conveniently. New version for CS4, also works in CS3.
Language-aware paragraph sorting (CS3 and later)
Sort paragraph (or lines) according to the sort rules of the document's language. Formatting remains intact. Updated May 2009.
Sort tables (CS2 and later)
Sort a table on the selected column. Formatting is preserved.
Merge tables (CS2 and later)
Merge all selected tables.
Bookmark (Quickmark) (CS2 and later)
Leave a bookmark at the cursor position, go somewhere else in your document, and fly back to your bookmark later.
Align objects (CS2)
InDesign CS2's options for aligning objects are limited. The script expands these.
Add a page while typing (CS2, 3)
Add a page at the end of the document in which you're typing. No longer relevant from CS4 as it is built into the program.
Delete links to tagged text files (CS and later)
InDesign 3 (CS) and earlier always create a link when you place tagged-text files. These links show up also when you convert such documents to later versions of InDesign. The script removes all these links.
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