TextStitch
This is a free download; it supports Mac & Windows versions of InDesign CS, CS2, CS3 or CS4.
Goal
This tool helps you with threading of text frames in InDesign CS, CS2, CS3 or CS4. There are three main functions: auto-stitch, quick stitch and auto-unstitch.
Download
This is a free download. Before you can use the TextStitch plug-in you also have to install our free APID ToolAssistant plug-in, which is available as a second, separate download.
Download TextStitch (version 1.0.3. 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 will not be a ‘regular’ icon, and that’s OK.)
- Macintosh APID ToolAssistant:
- Windows APID ToolAssistant:
You don’t need to purchase a license for APID ToolAssistant (but APID ToolAssistant will try to beg you into it, and we’re always grateful if you do – it helps us fund further development).
The TextStitch plug-in will work fine with an unlicensed APID ToolAssistant – it won’t stop working when the APID ToolAssistant demo period lapses.
To encourage us by purchasing such an 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!
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 TextStitch.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
It is highly recommended to assign some keyboard shortcuts to the TextStitch menu items if you intend to use these functions often (using Edit – Keyboard Shortcuts… ).
1. Auto-Stitch
Auto-stitch will automatically thread all unthreaded text frames it finds, in a logical order (roughly left-right, top-down, page order).
It can be configured to either skip over non-empty text frames, or instead indiscriminately stitch empty and non-empty frames alike into the story thread.
It will always ignore any frames that have already been threaded. When frames are positioned in irregular positions, it’ll try to guess a logical order.
This function can be performed either on the current spread, or throughout the complete document.
There is a configuration dialog under the API – Text Stitch – Configure… menu item which allows you to change the setting for the various options.
A short example of auto-stitch: consider the following one-page document on which we put some text frames:
First, we verify the current configuration of TextStitch:
We want to make sure it will only operate on the current spread, rather than affecting the whole document:
That looks all right, so we close the dialog and ask TextStitch to perform an auto-stitch:
And this is the result (with View – Show Text Threads activated, and the first frame of the newly formed text thread selected):
2. Quick Stitch
The second function, quick stitch, allows you to ’stitch’ multiple text frames together with just a single click per frame.
Begin the quick stitch mode by selecting the API – Text Stitch – Begin Quick Stitch menu item.
Then use your mouse with the regular selection tool to click the text frames in the desired order, one after the other. Here we are about to click the first frame in the threaded sequence:
As soon as the frame is clicked, it turns black, making it part of the text thread we are building. If we wanted to, we could click the same frame again, to remove it from the thread, for example if we clicked the frame by mistake.
We continue clicking frames in sequence:
We end the quick stitch by selecting API – Text Stitch – End Quick Stitch (or hitting the hotkey we might have assigned in the Edit – Keyboard Shortcuts… editor).
As soon as we end the quick stitch mode (by selecting the API – Text Stitch – End Quick Stitchmenu item), the text frames will be threaded together in the same order we clicked them.
During ‘quick stitch’ mode, the background of any ’stitched’ text frame turns black to signal the fact it has been selected for stitching.
The black background will revert back to its original color as soon as the quick stitch mode is ended. You can also click any blackened text frame a second time to remove it from the ’stitch sequence’.
You can also abort the quick stitch mode, leaving all text frames unchanged, by selecting the API – Text Stitch – Abort Quick Stitch menu item.
You can use quick stitch mode to ‘join’ two distinct stories: simply begin the quick stitch mode, click the last frame of the first story, then click the first frame of the second story, and finally, end the quick stitch mode.
By connecting these two ‘end-frames’ you’ll join up the two stories.
3. Auto-Unstitch
Auto-unstitch, the third function, will break text threads. There are three options:
- break all text threads on the current spread
- break all text threads in the current document
- break up the whole story of the currently selected text frame
Depending on how you configure TextStitch, the stories will be either ‘broken’ into text chunks, or instead ‘bunch up’ in the first frame of each story thread.
Be careful with this function as it will also remove all threads you might have assigned manually.
Let us know if this plug-in is useful to you, at pluginsupport@rorohiko.com. Thanks!
Version history
15-June-2007 Version 1.0.2:
- Fixed bug that disabled TextStitch after its first run on a particular document
- Fixed bug when quick-stitching two existing chains together and the first chain ends in one or more empty frames
28-May-2007 Version 1.0.1:
- Keep text in frames while unstitching
- Insert optional frame break characters while stitching
- Unstitch selected story
- Continue stitching
19-May-2007 Version 1.0:
- Initial Beta Release
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