How can you do that?
I did it with Text Boxes in Nisus Writer Pro. The numbers are updated automatically, and you can bookmark and cross-reference the numbers.
In MS Word one can use frames ( "Positionsrahmen" in German), but it requires some preparatory work.
The sad thing is, you can't do this easily in Mellel. You might be able to use floating Text Boxes, but that's very cumbersome. The reason is:
1) An Auto-title (a Tag Flow, consisting of an incremental number) does not work in Mellel's Text Boxes. This is a huge limitation and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
2) Cross referencing contents of floating Text Boxes is also not possible in Mellel. This too is a huge drawback and needs to be fixed.
3) Copying and pasting a floating Text Box ALWAYS ends up as an *inline* Text Box. This means, you will have to change the Text Box from inline to floating each and every time you paste a text box, and then drag the box to the right place. This needs to be fixed too.
4) Since you can't enter an incremental number into a Text Box, i.e. as a Tag Flow, you need to write the number manually each time you add a new
Randnummer and they are not automatically updated if one of them is delete, for example.
In Nisus Writer Pro you can do this very easily. Here's how:
a. Insert a Text Box on the right margin. Make sure it 'moves with paragraph'
b. Insert a list style containing an incremental number. This is basically similar to inserting a Tag Flow (Auto-title) in Mellel, with the difference that in Mellel this is not (yet) possible. : -(
c. Format the number in the Text Box the way you like it to be (bold, size 12, or whatever)
d. Now all you have to do is to select the Text Box, press and hold down the Option key while you drag the Text Box down to the location where the next
Randnummer should be. This will duplicate the Text Box, and the number will be automatically updated. Repeat option-dragging until you're finished.
In Nisus you can
bookmark and
cross-reference a
Randnummer. In Mellel, the content of a Text Box can neither be bookmarked nor cross-referenced!
If you need a step-by-step instruction for how to do this in MS Word, then let me know.
By the way how can I put line numbers altenately in each page? Alternate before & after in attribute panel changes nothing.
ps) I found again that "alternate before & after" only applies on a column basis, not on a page bais. This leaves much more to be desired.
I agree. This is indeed confusing, especially because this is not mentioned in the User Guide. On page 344 in the User Manual for Mellel 4.1, Version 1.0, there is this Figure 8-164, which wrongly suggests that "Alternate before & after" also applies for 1 column.
Anyway, the only solution I can think of at the moment is to use 'Before', then insert "Section style break" from the Insert menu at the end of the page and then use "After" for the next page. Perhaps create two section styles, one with line numbers in the left margin and another with line numbers in the right margin.
Does anyone have a better idea?