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InFlow 2.x User’s Guide
Introduction
InFlow™ is a plug-in to Adobe InDesign® that adds pages automatically to your document as you import text and edit text in stories, just as you’d expect InDesign to do itself, and just the way that QuarkXPress has always done it. This means no more manually- created pages and text frames you need to link by hand. InFlow is very easy to use, works in the background, and helps make InDesign behave like a well-adjusted citizen of the DTP community.
In technospeak, InFlow lets you turn any arbitrary master-page text thread into an autoflow text thread. Overset text in the thread triggers InFlow to create as many new document pages as needed. Then the overset text automatically flows into the autoflow thread on those new pages. As a bonus, you no longer need to hold down special keys to activate InDesign’s specialized autoflow capabilities when placing text—just click the loaded cursor on an autoflow frame and let InFlow do the work.
InFlow works independently of any other plug-in, and can automatically flow placed text, typed text, or text generated by other plug- ins (such as our own InData™ and InCatalog,™ for which it was created).
Quick start If you’re a quick learner and only need to use InFlow in its most basic mode, you can follow this abbreviated list and skip the rest of this documentation.
1. Install the plug-in.
2. When creating a new document, check Master Text Frame in the New Document dialog box.
You’re done. Now you can click in that text frame and get text with a Place command (no need to hold down any modifier keys). After you’ve placed text, you can add text or place more text, and new pages will automatically be added to your document.
Installation
InFlow is available as an on-line archive, one for Mac OS (StuffIt archive) and one for Windows (WinZip archive). There are only two files included in each archive:
- The actual plugin, named InFlow 2.x.pln (Windows) or InFlow 2.x (Mac OS).
- This documentation, in PDF form, named InFlow User Guide 2.x.
1. Locate the InFlow plug-in folder, as downloaded and expanded from the appropriate on-line archive (see above).
2. Move the actual plug-in file called InFlow 2.x into your (existing or newly-created) Em Software sub-folder of the InDesign Plug-ins folder. (It can live anywhere in the plug-ins folder or any sub-folder of the plug-ins folder, but it’s best to group plug- ins by function or by vendor.)
3. Launch InDesign (quitting it first, if it’s already running). In a few seconds you’ll get a dialog prompting for InFlow serialization like the one below (unless you already have a licensed copy of InData or InCatalog, in which case you don’t need a separate InFlow license). Enter the appropriate information and press OK . If you don’t have a serial number (you just want to test the product), press the Demo button to proceed.
(In demonstration mode, InFlow will never auto-create more than 10 pages in a document.)
To work properly, InFlow 2.x requires InDesign 2.0 or later.
Your system will need to comfortably support the particular version of InDesign that you’re using. InFlow has no serious resource requirements beyond that of InDesign. Please consult the InDesign documentation for detailed system requirements.
Creating autoflow text frames
Because InFlow 2.x is always enabled, pages are automatically inserted when InFlow detects overset text in an autoflow text thread.
Note: InFlow 2.x always inserts pages at the end of the story. There aren’t any other options for insertion.
There are two ways to turn on autoflow for text.
1. When you create the document.
2. By going to a master page and designating a selected text frame as an autoflow frame.
When you create a new document and check Master Text Frame , InFlow will ask InDesign to create an autoflow text frame for the master page and the initial document page.
To establish an autoflow text thread when creating a document:
1. On the File menu, select New , and then Document .
2. Select the Master Text Frame check box.
3. Enter the margins, columns, and any other required settings for the new document.
4. Click OK .
InDesign will create a new document in which each document page contains a new default autoflow text frame that is ready to use. If the document was created with more than one page, each document page will begin a new autoflow thread. (Only overset text causes the addition of linked pages.)
Creating autoflow text frames on master pages autoflow text frames ensure that text will automatically flow into subsequent document pages. You can create an autoflow text frame without having to create a new document. To create an autoflow text frame on a master page:
1. Select the desired master page.
2. Do one of the following:
• Create a new text frame.
• Select an existing text frame whose text thread will become the autoflow text thread.
3. In the Object menu, select Set Autoflow Thread .
The selected text frame’s thread will become the new default autoflow thread for that master page.
Note that in order for your autoflow changes to take effect, you will need to re-apply the altered master page to any document pages that are based on that master. InFlow will automatically take into account the master page’s new autoflow text frames on the document pages.
On a document page, you can tell whether the selected text frame is a member of an autoflow text thread by looking at InFlow’s entry in the Object menu:
• Autoflow Thread (Default) indicates that the selected item is a member of an autoflow thread.
• Set Autoflow Thread indicates that the selected item is not a member of an autoflow thread.
Note that these entries will be grayed-out (unavailable) in the menu since changes to autoflow threads can only be made on master pages.
Managing autoflow text threads
Rules for autoflow threads
All management of autoflow text threads is performed on a document’s master pages. Each master page may have one default autoflow thread. An autoflow text thread on a master page:
• must be empty of all text;
• may contain one or more frames on that master page;
• may contain frames that overlap the pasteboard, but no frame may be completely on the pasteboard (InFlow will not allow a thread containing a frame completely on the paste- board to be designated as the autoflow thread);
• may not be linked across pages. (Because autoflow threads on master pages are really thread segments which will be automatically linked together as InFlow adds pages, you may not thread one master page’s text frame to another page’s text frame. InFlow will not allow frames linked across pages to be designated as an autoflow thread.)
InFlow’s interface is very minimal—it adds a single menu entry to InDesign’s Object menu. The menu entry can change based on the current selection.
When a document page is active, it may display:
• Set Autoflow Thread (disabled) when there is no text frame selected or the selected text frame is not a member of an autoflow text thread;
• Autoflow Thread (Default) (disabled) when a text frame in an autoflow text thread is selected.
When a master page is active, it may display:
• Set Autoflow Thread (enabled) when a valid autoflow candidate text thread is selected;
• Set Autoflow Thread (disabled) when an invalid or non-text item is selected;
• Clear Autoflow Thread (enabled) when the text thread currently marked as the page’s autoflow thread is selected.
Enabling and disabling autoflow on master pages
Autoflow can be set or cleared using InFlow’s Autoflow Thread entry in the Object menu. To turn autoflow on:
1. Select a desired text frame on the master page.
2. From the Object menu, select Set Autoflow Thread .
To remove autoflow:
1. Select a frame on the master page whose thread is already designated as autoflow.
2. From the Object menu, select Clear Autoflow Thread .
To verify that a thread’s autoflow designation is set or cleared, select any frame in the thread and activate the Object menu, observing:
• if the autoflow entry starts with Set , then the selected thread is no longer an autoflow thread;
• if the autoflow entry starts with Clear , then the selected thread is now an autoflow thread.
Applying master pages containing autoflow threads
Note: While page element changes to a master page will show up on document pages immediately, autoflow changes will not show up on document pages until the master is re-applied to those pages.
When a master is applied to a document page, InFlow automatically enables the master’s autoflow text frames on the target document page. The results of the application, including these autoflow text frames’ connections to other pages, vary depending on the target page’s previous contents:
• if the target page contains an autoflow thread whose frames have remained unaltered, InFlow will directly replace the existing autoflow frames with the new autoflow frames while maintaining their autoflow connections to other pages;
• if the target page contains an autoflow thread in which one or more frames have been moved or otherwise modified,
InFlow will add new autoflow frames to that page, and the new frames will begin a new autoflow thread on that page;
• if the target page does not contain an autoflow thread, then the newly overridden frames will simply be added to the page and will begin a new autoflow thread on that page.
Em Software, Inc. www.emsoftware.com March, 2003
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