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TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:41 am
by markjulie
I have my auto-title streams setup with correct formatting in my main document and in my TOC within the Configure Auto-Titles window but with one exception. When I Insert > TOC, I get a TOC with an end margin at every stream level that is 25–40% of the usable width of the document (8.5x11in with 1.25 and 1.0 left and right margins).
I can click and drag the end margin on the ruler to the location I desire, but that only persists until I reinsert/update the TOC. Where is the Style/Attribute path to the layout of the TOC itself so that a newly inserted one is correct without further formatting?
Mark
Re: TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 2:38 am
by Amontillado
Well, crud. I wasn't logged in when I replied. If this is a duplicate, apologies.
Each auto-title has its own ruler with tabs and margins independent of all other auto-titles, and independent of the document.
If the margins or tabs are wrong when you insert a TOC, the best fix is to delete the TOC, update the auto-titles TOC tab, and re-insert the TOC.
If you change tabs and margins in the document, it won't affect what you see the next time you insert a TOC.
Could that be what you're seeing?
Re: TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 8:56 am
by markjulie
The document itself isn't having any margin problems. My auto-title streams have an end margin of 6.5 inches in the format areas. The reverse tab and leading dots for Levels 1 and 2 work properly, but an end margin changes randomly to between 1.5 and 4 inches from the left border when I delete and reinsert a new TOC. This jams the leading line of the chapter onto 2-3 SS lines and adds a dozen vertical lines to the entire TOC. Does the TOC have a modifiable page style and paragraph style? That appears to be the part of the template that needs tweaked. When I insert the TOC, it presents margin settings that do not match the Configure Auto Title streams TOC Format tab.
Re: TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 3:44 pm
by Amontillado
The TOC uses whatever paragraph styles you want from the document. The same styles available when you're editing the document are available when setting up an auto-title.
One thing I've found that can cause grief is if you have more tab characters in an auto-title than you have tab stops in the auto-title's ruler. Or, if you have text that runs past a tab stop, eating the tab stop.
When you find a solution it would be nice to hear.
You might also want to get Eyal's help.
_Edited to add:_ Paragraph styles also have their own rulers. If you set your TOC tabs in new paragraph styles, not in either the document or as an ad-hoc setting in the autotitle, you may get what you need and in a more maintainable fashion.
If not, then you could select a TOC level at a time and apply the appropriate paragraph style for that level. I wouldn't want to do that, but it might be a workaround.
Re: TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 12:01 am
by markjulie
Thanks, Amontillado. The simple solution came from watching more Mellel videos, looking at Auto-Title settings and using the Mellel manual in Mellel format:
Mellel 5.1 Guide in Mellel Format
The Mellel guide is itself an example of how most features are used with proper settings (like well-written code for a developer). What finally worked came from a combination of Paragraph/Character Styles settings in Palettes and Insert > Auto-title > Configure Auto-Titles. These steps worked for me:
Paragraph palette
- Create or select an existing Character style to use for the desired level of auto-title flow
- Create or select an existing Paragraph style using TOC in its name (for simplicity) and open Edit style from the icon list
- Ctrl-click the ruler and select Remove All Tab Stops
- Set the Start Margin and End Margin values to 0 either in the boxes above or by sliding the left diamond icon on the ruler to 0.0 and the right diamond icon to the farthest right position on the ruler
- Drag an Indent Tab from the tab well above the left edge of the ruler to 0.25in on the ruler and release when the green plus sign appears.
- Drag again from the tab well to 0.5in, 0.75in, and 1.0in to create four potential levels of TOC indentation.
- Calculate the usable width of the printed page (total width of 8.5in minus 1.25in left margin and 1.0in right margin for 6.25in)
- Drag a Reverse Tab from the tab well to slightly left of the 6.25in calculated value above and drop on the ruler. (Hover over the tab until two arrows with a dot appear and click to select. The Tab: Lead: dropdown and Tab: Position: values will become usable.)
- From the Lead: dropdown, select Dots or another desired pattern to fill the space between the title and page number
- In the Tab: Position: adjust the value to slightly smaller to move the TOC page number away from the right margin as needed
(If the Tab: Lead: and Position: fields gray out and become unusable, return to 8b)
- Save
Insert > Auto-titles > Configure auto-titles
- Select the TOC Format tab
- (Using Chapter in the structure flow as an example), note the Elements in the field. Mine are {Level #}{period/dot typed in from the keyboard} {Title}{Tab}{Page #}{Line Break}
- Select All (cmd-A) and delete
- Select Clear Formatting
- Move the margin diamonds to 0.0 and the far right as in 4 (Paragraph palette)
- Insert Elements to reinsert the elements removed in 2 above
- Select All (cmd-A)
- Click on or open the Palettes > Paragraph style
- Select the TOC Paragraph style as in 2 (Paragraph palette)
- Click the Apply Style (finger icon) to apple the styled paragraph to the Auto-title
- Click Save Changes to Style at the top center of the Auto-title Style window to save then select OK to close the window.
Use
These style changes will be applied to any existing auto-titles in the open document and will incorporate new auto-titles as they are added. Do not forget to delete the existing TOC in the document and reinsert a new TOC (since the TOC itself is not dynamic and cannot update itself within the document). Consult other Mellel resources to make a global template style set.
There are other solutions possible, but this approach eliminated possible overlapping and/or conflicting settings.
Mark
Re: TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:20 pm
by mokane99
Is there a secret to dragging the reverse tab from the paragraph palette to the toolbar? When I try to do so, I get a blue (regular) tab that doesn't do anything. I've tried:
clicking and dragging: didn't work
alt-click: nothing
cmd-click: nothing
ctrl-click: nothing
Threw coins into an intersection to summon the favor of the santeria god Eleggua: nothing
Re: TOC setup margins and indent
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 4:49 pm
by Amontillado
i don't have any trouble dragging tabs from tab well to the ruler when editing an autotitle or a paragraph style, but the trick is to drag it to the local ruler in the style, not the ruler as seen in the document.
If I add the tab well to the document's toolbar i can drag from there to the document's ruler.
I'm probably missing the point, but i beg forgiveness. I'm wracked with fever, what feels like wages of the seven deadly sins, and an overwhelming sense of self-pity. Microbes – they don't make good house guests. Fortunately, the ordeal reminds me of a short story I never wrote.