insert a tab character in text

[cruben]

I'm marking up proofs for the typesetters. I need to add some text, in columns. The typesetters will simply cut and paste my text into InDesign. I want to separate the columns with tab characters but I just can't figure a way of inserting a tab. It must be possible because I can paste a tab char from a text editor into the PDF.
Any ideas?

Claire

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Hi Claire,

can you provide a sample? I am afraid I don't fully follow what you mean by:

I want to separate the columns with tab characters

Are you looking to make multiple annotations and use tab to navigate between them or are you looking to use tab to define the distance between two columns?

I apologize if I am being obtuse, I am not seeing in my mind's eye what you want.

[cruben]

I'm correcting PDF proofs and having to insert entries: names and contact details. I type the text for the entries onto the PDF and send it in to the typesetter who makes the necessary changes to the InDesign files.
So I mean that I want to separate the text for the columns by a tab character thus:

Fred Smith [tab] 21 Acacia Avenue [tab] Sin City [tab] postcode [tab] 01234 789123 [CR/LF]
[tab][tab] fred.smith@some.isp.somewhere

so that the typesetter can simply cut and paste this text into the InDesign file in the appropriate place and the text will line up on the tab marks.
At the moment I'm spacing the columns out with spaces, which is tiresome for me and means that the typesetter has to delete all the spaces and replace them by a tab mark, so doubly tedious for them.

Incidentally, I mostly use PDFXChange Viewer Pro (v 2.5) rather than PDFX Editor. I find the interface is cleaner and quicker for what I do.

Thanks,
Claire

[Dimitar - Tracker Supp]

Hello Claire,

Could you please send us some example files, so we can test the problem at our end?
We need a file from which you are copying the text and the finished file from the InDesign.

Also, could you please tell us what version of InDesign the typesetter is using?

Regards.

[cruben]

OK, attached is a page from the proof file. You will see across the top of it lines of text in blue type, with key marks (the capital letters in lozenges). The typesetter will cut and paste these lines of text into the list of contact details at the places indicated by the corresponding key marks in the left margin. As you can see the typeset text is lined up on tab stops. But the text I have typed is lined up using spaces because I can't put ASCII tab characters in. So the typesetter will have to replace all of those sets of spaces by tab marks.

I'm afraid I don't have the InDesign files. I only get the PDF proofs. I don't know what version of InDesign they use, but I don't believe that's relevant.. An ASCII tab char should copy over into any version. In fact an ASCII tab char should copy over in exactly the same way as any other ASCII character, provided I can put it there in the first place. The problem is that I can't put a tab character into the text that I type. That's all I want to do - just type an ASCII tab character.

Thanks,
Claire

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello Cruben,

Testing the file in the latest version, I am able to insert tab characters anywhere in the text by using the Edit > text tool.
Can you verify that this is not working for you in V7 Build 326.1? If you are not using this latest version, please update the software and test it again.

[cruben]

oh - I'm using v5.5 build 316.1 and Check for Updates reports no updates available....

OK, having downloaded and installed the latest version (a) the installer tells me I have a valid licence for this product but (b) the installed product tells me my licence isn't valid and any file I save will have DEMO stamped on it. Not happy.
But, more to the point it doesn't solve the problem.
Yes I can insert a tab into the text I have already typed. So I can do what the typesetter will have to do: highlight all the spaces in the line of text I have typed and replace it by a tab. What I need to do is to be able to type a tab in the first place.
So:
Get a document, any document - a blank page will do.
Select the typewriter tool or the text box tool.
Type the following:
The quick brown fox [tab character] jumps over the lazy dog.
What you will get is
The quick brown foxjumps over the lazy dog,
because hitting the tab key when typing text has no effect.
I want to be able to insert the tab character as I type using the typewriter or text box or callout tool, not by going back and replacing spaces using the text edit tool after I have typed the text.
I don't know how to make this clear to you.

[Dimitar - Tracker Supp]

Hello Claire,

We need the version of InDesign so we can be able to match your environment and test if it
can recognize any 'alternative' TAB symbols that can be entered correctly with the Editor.
I will just try with the latest version and get back to you with the results.

In regards testing, could you please put 4 of these   or a single   at the places you want a TAB.
In ASCII, 	 is a tab, so you can try this too.


Regards.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello Claire,

While Dimitar is asking above for some extra info so that he can try and replicate your environment and run some tests - I managed to reproduce the issue with entering the tab symbol directly inside e.g. typewriter object in an opened PDF file - so I am checking now with our devs why this is so. Typing Alt + 0009 does not work directly in the typewriter tool for me, but doing the same in notepad and then copying the symbol from there to the Editor does work - so maybe you can use that as a workaround for now while we investigate?

Regards,
Stefan

P.S. A colleague from the dev team confirmed that the Tab key is disabled for text input as it is used for navigation. So trying to enter the tab key in a typewriter/text box object will not work in the Editor. Trying Alt + 0009 is also considered keyboard input, and is ignored. However when pasting from e.g. notepad - the clipboard data is not checked and is pasted as is - so that is why pasting a Tab symbol does work.
I will now check with another colleague to see is we could think of any alternatives.

[cruben]

Ah! You've got there! Thank you!
Yes, I can paste a tab character in from somewhere else - rather laborious but possible.

I can insert other characters using Alt+ASCII decimal value (I frequently use Alt 0150 for en dash for example) but it doesn't work for the tab character. In fact it doesn't work for control characters at all. Is that the problem then? The typewriter tool doesn't understand ASCII codes below 032?
If that's it and you just can't use ASCII values less than 32 with the text entry tools (as opposed to text editing tools) I'll just quit trying to figure it out and carry on using spaces or perhaps try to learn to paste a tab in from elsewhere.

I've already said I don't know what version of InDesign the typesetters are using, but I don't see that as germane to the problem.

Thanks,
Claire

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello Claire,

For the moment I can confirm about the Tab input being explicitly disabled/ignored for the typerwiter and text box tools. A colleague from the dev team confirmed this should not be so - and a fix will be applied for build 327 which is due for release in the next 10-14 days if all goes smoothly.

For the moment I would recommend you to consider the alternatives (like e.g. pasting from notepad ) - and once 327 is live you will not need to use those workarounds any more!

Regards,
Stefan

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello all,
I would also like to offer a suggestion, I had oroginally misread the topic and did not notice that we were talking about annotations. If you are using base content text, (Via Home > Add > Text [or] Home > Edit > Text) you are indeed able to use the Tab character, however oddly enough ascii codes below 32 still do not seem to work.

If the typewrite is not specifically needed, i woudl recommend using the Add text tool instead to make your edits easier for the time being.

[cruben]

Huge thanks to Stefan for understanding the issue and putting it forward to be fixed. I will look forward to that - it'll save both me and the typesetter a lot of grief.

Thanks also to Daniel for looking into it and making a suggestion (twice), even though it doesn't actually help - it's no saving of time or of effort to use one tool to type in the text and then another tool to go back and edit it. Sorry if my explanation of what I'm doing didn't make the problem clear enough.

Claire

[cruben]

Actually further to that, Daniel, I apologise - I misunderstood what you were saying. Nevertheless the Add text tool still isn't really what I'm after because I often need to move the block of text after I've typed it. Adding my annotations as base text would work if I could be 100% sure of putting it in the right place (and at the right size) first time every time. But as I work my way down a page of proof and have more and more amendments to make, I often have to reposition the earlier annotations to make room for more.

Thanks again,
Claire

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Ahh that makes sense, shuffling base content items repeatedly can certainly be a tad cumbersome.
Well I am glad at least that the fix is incoming and you have a workaround for the time being.
Have an excellent weekend!

[Dimitar - Tracker Supp]

Hello Claire,

This functionality is added to our latest version 7.0.327.0

Please update your software.

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product/downloads


Regards.