Insert Index -- how?

[jmwellborn]

I may have lost my mind, but something seems to be missing -- either with me or with the Index panel, or with TEXT>Index>Insert Index.  I made a very tiny set of index entries from a document, using the Index Panel, and the Insert Marker icon.   Worked.   Then I went to the bottom of my document, added a new page, drew a text frame, and clicked on the Insert Index icon in the panel.   Nothing.   So I went to TEXT>Index>Insert Index.  Got an Affinity Message explaining that I cannot have two indexes in one document.   So I put all of the index entries into the junk box, and started all over again.   But just clicked on the Insert Index icon in the panel.  Nothing.   I have looked at the Publisher Help, and am still as foggy as before.   (By the way, trying to work with the Index panel yesterday, I had a crash.   Using MAC Sierra.   Going nuts.

  

[Old Bruce]

This is a maddening thing but but try this: insert the "Index" into the Text Frame. Then use the Edit command to select all the text in the Index Text Frame and check the size of the type, I bet it will be minuscule 0.2 pts is what I get, change it to something real.

[Old Bruce]

I forgot to include this enlargement of your screenshot:

That is your index right in there at the middle of the blue top line.

[jmwellborn]

3 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

This is a maddening thing but but try this: insert the "Index" into the Text Frame. Then use the Edit command to select all the text in the Index Text Frame and check the size of the type, I bet it will be minuscule 0.2 pts is what I get, change it to something real.

But HOW did you get the index inserted in the text frame?   That is the problem.   

[Old Bruce]

That screen shot in my second post is an enlargement of your screenshot, there is a minuscule blue smudge there so you put it in for sure. Just use the Text Frame Tool to make a Text Frame for your index. With the text cursor active in that frame click on the fourth little icon (maybe it is a page, I don't know.) from the left, it is to the left of the recycle arrows in the Index Studio. That will insert/place/paste your Index into that frame. If you want to be able to see it you must then click in the frame in which you placed your Index and  select all (cmd + A) the text and enlarge the point size. As I said I have some tiny default for it which I cannot for the life of me fix.

[jmwellborn]

9 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

That screen shot in my second post is an enlargement of your screenshot, there is a minuscule blue smudge there so you put it in for sure. Just use the Text Frame Tool to make a Text Frame for your index. With the text cursor active in that frame click on the fourth little icon (maybe it is a page, I don't know.) from the left, it is to the left of the recycle arrows in the Index Studio. That will insert/place/paste your Index into that frame. If you want to be able to see it you must then click in the frame in which you placed your Index and  select all (cmd + A) the text and enlarge the point size. As I said I have some tiny default for it which I cannot for the life of me fix.

Oh, THAT tiny little dot.   My word!!!!    It is so tiny that I didn’t even see it.  Tomorrow I will have to try the thing again with a zoom level of about 8.    Thank you.  I was ready to check myself in to the men in the white coats.   After all, “tomorrow is another day,” said Scarlett O’Hara.

[Old Bruce]

5 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

“tomorrow is another day,” said Scarlett O’Hara.

And she also said "I'll always have Tara"

[jmwellborn]

1 minute ago, Old Bruce said:

And she also said "I'll always have Tara"

True.   

[walt.farrell]

15 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

That screen shot in my second post is an enlargement of your screenshot, there is a minuscule blue smudge there so you put it in for sure. Just use the Text Frame Tool to make a Text Frame for your index. With the text cursor active in that frame click on the fourth little icon (maybe it is a page, I don't know.) from the left, it is to the left of the recycle arrows in the Index Studio. That will insert/place/paste your Index into that frame. If you want to be able to see it you must then click in the frame in which you placed your Index and  select all (cmd + A) the text and enlarge the point size. As I said I have some tiny default for it which I cannot for the life of me fix.

On Windows the Index seems to be inserted using a reasonable font size.

Examining/changing the defaults: Check the Paragraph Styles panel for Index, Index Entry, Index Entry 1, and Index Section Heading. For me, they're a hierarchy, with Index inheriting from Base, and my index entries are the same font/size as specified in Base.

 

[jmwellborn]

17 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

And she also said "I'll always have Tara"

Well, blow me down!   (As Popeye used to say, I think.).  The curse worked.   I tried enlarging the tiny dot by zooming 800% and it was still a tiny little dot.   Clicking on the text tool got nowhere.   But I changed to the Move tool, poked at the little dot, and then opened the Character Panel.   Yup.  2 pt type.    So I enlarged it to 16 pt just for laughs, and BINGO!   An index.  Did all that before trying your Cmd+A solution.   So I will do a Save As (something else) on this thing, and then try your method.

Thank you!   The men in the white coats have vanished.   

[jmwellborn]

18 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

 If you want to be able to see it you must then click in the frame in which you placed your Index and  select all (cmd + A) the text and enlarge the point size. As I said I have some tiny default for it which I cannot for the life of me fix.

Cmd + A doesn't seem to like my MAC.    Never mind.   The workaround works.   When I am in a very expansive mood, I will try Walt's Paragraph Styles defaults.   So far, I have left "styles" for last.  But my 302 page transcription of an 1823 "history" book running from page 1 to page 302 without a section or chapter break, with 5 footnotes, a bibliography of 2 entries, and an index of 23 lines, is now safe to enter in its PDF version into the commercial Publisher version -- when ready.   I had made a 2-column, 54-page index for this particular book, and was NOT a happy camper in the "if all else fails" department.  Thank you both!!

[walt.farrell]

41 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

Cmd + A doesn't seem to like my MAC.

Strange. If you go to the Menu, and choose Select, what shortcut shows for Select All? (Or, if you open Preferences, and look at the shortcuts for Select, what do you see for Select All?)

[jmwellborn]

5 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Strange. If you go to the Menu, and choose Select, what shortcut shows for Select All? (Or, if you open Preferences, and look at the shortcuts for Select, what do you see for Select All?)

Command + A.   Also looked at Preferences>Shortcuts.   Command + A.   Just doesn’t work.   Tried all that before I wrote the entry.

[Old Bruce]

24 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

Command + A.   Also looked at Preferences>Shortcuts.   Command + A.   Just doesn’t work.   Tried all that before I wrote the entry.

Do you now or have you ever had any third party keyboard shortcut manager utilities running? Because that is just ... wrong. What happens when you have a finder window open and there are files/items in it and you press Command + A?

[Companion]

'Insert Index' crashes with a seg-fault consistently for me under Mojave, as does any 'Insert TOC' where the 'include entries before ...' option is selected. I can post crash reports if that's useful?

[jmwellborn]

14 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Do you now or have you ever had any third party keyboard shortcut manager utilities running? Because that is just ... wrong. What happens when you have a finder window open and there are files/items in it and you press Command + A?

Nope.  No third-party stuff.   Currently I am on an iPad.    I will test the Finder thing in an hour or two when I fire up the MAC.

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, Companion said:

'Insert Index' crashes with a seg-fault consistently for me under Mojave, as does any 'Insert TOC' where the 'include entries before ...' option is selected. I can post crash reports if that's useful?

I think the Developers would find it very useful.

[jmwellborn]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

I think the Developers would find it very useful.

I hope so.   And also my Command +A problem.  I am now on my MAC (Sierra) and first checked with Apple Pages to see if Command + A works.  Yes, it does.   So I closed it out and opened Publisher (v. 145) and opened the document with the index which wouldn't respond to Command +A or to VIEW>Select All yesterday.   The document has 57 pages of text, and a new page 58 with the index (now opened with your handy workaround) neatly arranged.   I clicked inside the text frame and tried Command +A again.   Nothing.   I tried VIEW>Select all.  Nothing.  So I went into the document to a random page (i.e. 37) and tried Command + A.   Worked perfectly.   Back to the index page 58, Command + A refused.   So I closed that .afpub file and went to another "Saved As" version of the same attempt at an index.  Command + A didn't work.   But then I went to a "Help" page I have created for myself, with a full-page text frame containing the saved index (from the original page 58 in another file) plus one new small text frame and a placed screenshot that I had made of the steps I need to take.   I clicked inside the whole-page text frame, hit Command + A, and lo and behold, the INDEX portion of the page was highlighted.  Not the other small  text frame (which was placed inside the full-page text frame) or the placed screen shot.   

So then I went back to the first document (which wouldn't respond) and hit Command + A.    It worked.

There is definitely a gremlin in there somewhere.   I do hope the developers can help to figure out this whole Insert Index thing!!!!

[walt.farrell]

Perhaps you should send your Mac to Serif so they can see what's going on

[Old Bruce]

Apparently the View > Show Text Ruler screws things up to the point of crashing, so maybe check see if that is on?

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

Perhaps you should send your Mac to Serif so they can see what's going on

Just need the Fax number.

[jmwellborn]

Happy as a clam.   Need to be checked into the looney bin.  It was apparently me, not Publisher.   I tried a new index today.   First added some sample index entries from the document, using the shortcut Shift + Command + [  into the Index panel.   Next added a new blank page after the last page of the document.   Next added a text frame to the blank page.   Went back to the Index Panel and clicked on the Insert Index icon.   BINGO.   A perfectly normal, organized index turned up on the correct page.   It was not using the font I am using for the document, but that was easily fixed.

As usual, Publisher is as smooth as can be.  Wish I could say the same about this dolt.  I have no idea how I managed to mess it up with my first attempt.    It will possibly be a splendid idea, when the first commercial Affinity Publisher Help is being made ready, to spell out these steps a bit for dolts like me.

 

[Loquos]

On 10/23/2018 at 1:39 PM, jmwellborn said:

I hope so.   And also my Command +A problem.  I am now on my MAC (Sierra) and first checked with Apple Pages to see if Command + A works.  Yes, it does.   So I closed it out and opened Publisher (v. 145) and opened the document with the index which wouldn't respond to Command +A or to VIEW>Select All yesterday.   The document has 57 pages of text, and a new page 58 with the index (now opened with your handy workaround) neatly arranged.   I clicked inside the text frame and tried Command +A again.   Nothing.   I tried VIEW>Select all.  Nothing.  So I went into the document to a random page (i.e. 37) and tried Command + A.   Worked perfectly.   Back to the index page 58, Command + A refused.   So I closed that .afpub file and went to another "Saved As" version of the same attempt at an index.  Command + A didn't work.   But then I went to a "Help" page I have created for myself, with a full-page text frame containing the saved index (from the original page 58 in another file) plus one new small text frame and a placed screenshot that I had made of the steps I need to take.   I clicked inside the whole-page text frame, hit Command + A, and lo and behold, the INDEX portion of the page was highlighted.  Not the other small  text frame (which was placed inside the full-page text frame) or the placed screen shot.   

So then I went back to the first document (which wouldn't respond) and hit Command + A.    It worked.

There is definitely a gremlin in there somewhere.   I do hope the developers can help to figure out this whole Insert Index thing!!!!

I know this OP is a bit old, but when I saw your mention of Command+A problem, I know this often crops up in Adobe products as well. It's typically a problem of some other program running in the background hogging the keyboard. Close each one in turn and see if Command+A starts working again. I had this happen once and the culprit was Chrome for some reason! Usually a quit all and restart fixes it as well - but if not, see what else you have running in the background... and then let Affinity know in case there's some way they can wrestle control back from the unruly program that's overriding Affinity.

[jmwellborn]

1 hour ago, Loquos said:

I know this OP is a bit old, but when I saw your mention of Command+A problem, I know this often crops up in Adobe products as well. It's typically a problem of some other program running in the background hogging the keyboard. Close each one in turn and see if Command+A starts working again. I had this happen once and the culprit was Chrome for some reason! Usually a quit all and restart fixes it as well - but if not, see what else you have running in the background... and then let Affinity know in case there's some way they can wrestle control back from the unruly program that's overriding Affinity.

Thank you!    Every so often, computers have a way of making their humans feel like total idiots.   The computers are usually right.   Guess we humans operate on too many things other than 1’s and 0’s!!     I hope you like Publisher as much as I do!