🚀 go-pugleaf

In this context, what is a batch?

Dave

Sorry, I mean a group of .indd files within a specific folder.
So say I have a folder titled "Layout"
I want to select that folder and have all of the .indd files in that folder have the layer "Answers" turned off.

Does that make sense?

I tried to do this myself but have had no luck.

To do that, you have to open each document, switch off the layer and then save it again. How far did you get with this? Show us some code and we'll talk you through the process.

Dave

Here is what I have done.

I am not great at scripting

var myFileLocation = Folder.selectDialog("Please select path to files");
myFolder = new Folder ([myFileLocation]);
myFolderContents = myFolder.getFiles("*.indd"); // array
var myDocument = app.documents[0];
var answersLayer = myDocument.layers.item("answers");
answersLayer.visible = false;
app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.yes);

You started just fine, but the leap from myFolderContents to myDocument leaves out a few steps. You need to open each document and process it. So you need a loop:

for (var j = 0; myFolderContents.length > j; j++) {
var myDocument = app.open(myFolderContents[j]);
// the rest of your code goes here
}

Now, the only problem you might run into is if the opening of any of these documents throws up a fonts or links issue. Up to you whether you want that to happen or not. If not, you need to manage the interaction level. I'd do this:

for (var j = 0; myFolderContents.length > j; j++) {
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.neverInteract;
var myDocument = app.open(myFolderContents[j]);
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
// the rest of your code goes here
}

I know this looks a bit inefficient, but my sense is that you should have neverInteract active for as short a time as possible.

Dave

Thank you thank you thank you.
So can I use this code for any time i need to open, do something then close and save?

As long as it works -- I didn't actually test it. But I think so.

Dave

yeah it worked.
So I was wondering one more thing. The "answer" layers have a specific type of character style on them that is unique to that layer. Is there anyway to run a script that tell indesign to always move a text box with "answer" character style to the "answer" layer?
I would have no idea where to start in terms of the code for that.

It's fairly straightforward. Use the findText feature to find all instance of text in the character style and then (assuming that all such instances are in their own text frames), set the itemLayer of the text frames to the answer layer.

Dave

I get what you are saying but how would that look as a java script?