Xmarks Top Site in Adobe Scripting

StoryParker

This is a free download; it supports Mac & Windows versions of InDesign CS, CS2, CS3 or CS4.

Goal

This tool helps you cope with cluttered pages.

Download

This is a free download. Before you can use the StoryParker plug-in you also have to install our free APID ToolAssistant plug-in, which is available as a second, separate download.

Download the StoryParker plug-in (version 1.0.7. Free download. For InDesign CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4 on Mac or Windows; does not include the APID ToolAssistant. Don’t worry about the icon of the .spln file: it might not be a ‘regular’ icon, and that’s OK)

You don’t need to purchase a license for APID ToolAssistant (but we’re always grateful if you do – it helps us fund further development). The StoryParker plug-in will work fine with an unlicensed APID ToolAssistant.

To encourage us by purchasing the US$25 optional license, select the API – APID ToolAssistant… menu item, select the ‘APID ToolAssistant’ entry in the list, and click the Get License… button. Purchasing a license helps us fund further development of cool stuff!

If you don’t purchase a license, APID ToolAssistant will show itself as ‘Demo’ for the first 20 days after it was first installed, and after the 20 days are up, it will change to ‘Unlicensed’. Don’t be alarmed by this. It will not stop working. StoryParker works with an unlicensed version of APID ToolAssistant, and purchasing a license is optional.

Let us know if this tool is useful to you, at pluginsupport@rorohiko.com. Thanks!

Installation

Please make sure you have a copy of the APID ToolAssistant plug-in installed.

Make sure you install the proper plug-in for your version of InDesign. InDesign CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4 plug-ins are mutually incompatible.

If you already have an APID ToolAssistant plug-in installed (e.g. because you use one of our other plug-ins), make sure it is up-to-date.

APID ToolAssistant used to be called ‘Active Page Item Runtime‘ – if you have any copies of Active Page Item Runtime or Active Page Item Developer installed, please remove them, and replace them with APID ToolAssistant.

When installing plug-ins make sure you copy plug-in files, not the folders they are contained in.

Copy the StoryParker.spln into the same folder as the APID ToolAssistant plug-in you installed (typically that will be the InDesign Plug-Ins folder). Don’t worry about the icon of the .spln file: it might not be a ‘regular’ icon, and that’s OK.

Usage

StoryParker adds a number of context menus to various page items (i.e. select page item, and do control-click (Mac) or right-click (Mac, Windows). Look for the Active Page Item Runtime menu).

It also adds a number of menu items in a submenu of the API menu on the menu bar. These menu items can be assigned a keyboard shortcut if so desired.

Every page item can be temporarily ‘parked’. Meaning: you can put it aside, somewhere on the pasteboard, and later quickly move it back to where it came from.

The idea is to help you get one or more page items out of the way quickly, for example because you want to reach something that’s underneath. Later on, you can easily move the page item back to its exact original position.

The neat thing is that parked page items ‘remember’ where they came from – you can ‘unpark’ them, which causes them to fly back to the exact location they had before you parked them.

Parked items are put on the pasteboard, and can be moved around freely from there – any movement while they are parked is ignored and forgotten the instant you unpark them.

There is a neat extra trick for text boxes: the context menu you get by right-clicking or control-clicking a text box will also allow you to park the whole story.

All text boxes that contain parts of the same ‘text flow’ or story can be parked together

.

Have a play first: grab a cluttered document, make a copy (don’t try this out on a ‘real’ document until you’re familiar with the working of this plug-in).

Context-click a page item and look for the API… menu – it should contain a few submenus (parking, unparking,…) – the contents vary depending on the type of page item and whether the page item is currently parked or not.

Let us know if this plug-in is useful to you, at pluginsupport@rorohiko.com. Thanks!

Version history

30-June-2007 Version 1.0.7:

  • Speed improvements based on 1.0.42 runtime improvements – resolves issues with long delays when selecting items.

21-May-2007 Version 1.0.6:

  • Bug fix. Fixed conflict with CS/CS2 that was introduced in version 1.0.5

9-May-2007 Version 1.0.5:

  • CS3 Support
  • Improved menu handling speed

18-Jul-2006 Version 1.0.4:

  • Parking operations can now also be accessed via menu bar
  • Shortcuts can be assigned to parking operations via InDesign’s Keyboard Shortcuts editor

7-Jun-2006 Version 1.0.3:

  • Fixed possible cause for ‘wild menus’, where the menu labels in the context menu are displaying the wrong menu texts.
  • Fixed issue with ‘Unpark All’ operation.

26-May-2006- Version 1.0.2:

  • Fixed timing issue that caused context menu content to ‘lag’ behind
  • Fixed conflict with AppleScript
  • This version does not affect the script labels of page items any more – unlike the previous versions.

20-May-2006- Version 1.0.1:

  • Initial public release
  • Added ‘Repark’ option to context menu of previously parked items

16-May-2006- Version 1.0:

  • Beta Release

Back to the InDesign Plug-Ins page

Back to Home Page