Quick Reference Script

Taking the pain out of cross reference creation…

Quick Reference is a script created to simplify the process of creating cross references. Thanks to David Blatner on his helpful suggestions when we were creating this script. You can read more about Quick Reference on InDesign Secrets here.

Creating cross references in InDesign is a somewhat painful process. You need to find the destination, and create a destination anchor. You then need to select the source text and create the new cross reference. You can also use references to text without anchors, but that’s even more painful to create.

We created Quick Reference to make this process less painful. To use Quick Reference, you just select the source text, and Quick Reference will give you a list of potential destinations. You just select the correct one, and hit enter. Quick Reference will do the rest of the work for you.

Installation:

We are including two different files for download: a zip file of the script, and an Extension Manager “mxp” file. You can use either one to install the script. Please download one (or both) of the files from here: Extension Manager File or Zip File

Installation using Extension Manager:

Installation should be as simple as a double click on the “MXP” file.

If you have CS3 installed, you might get an error when trying to open the file such as the one shown:

This is because Extension Manager (CS3) is trying to open the package and does not recognize CS4. If you get this error, you will need to install manually or to change the default application which opens the mxp file to Extension Manager CS4.

To install manually, open Extension Manager CS4 and click on the install button shown:

Once Extension Manager installs the script, you can enable and disable the script in Extension Manager:

If using Extension Manager is too much trouble, you can install the script manually.

To do this, download the zip file and decompress it.

You’ll need to place the whole folder as-is in you main scripts folder:

Usage:

Using Quick Reference is easy.

1. Select Source Text:
   

   Select Source Text

2. Select Create Quick Reference:
   
3. Select the destination in the dialog:
4. When you have the correct destination selected, hit Create, and you’re done!

A few tips on the use of Quick Reference:

• You must select the correct Cross Reference Format to use for your cross reference. (You can create or change them in the cross reference panel.) The selection should be the last format used in your document
• Quick Reference will either replace the current selection with a cross reference, or append the cross reference to the end of your selection. You should select the correct radio button.
• Quick Reference ignores trailing punctuation and spaces. If you want punctuation and/or space between the selected text and the cross reference make sure you select the trailing punctuation and/or trailing space.
• The listing of destinations will usually be in order within the text, so the correct destination will usually be the top one on the page.
• If the document is part o a book and the book document is open. Quick Reference will find destinations in the entire book. When this is the case, the name of the destination document will appear in the list of destinations.

Posted: February 24th, 2010 under Scripts.
Tags: cross reference, extension manager, InDesign, Scripts, Text

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