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Any one know how to automate categories with in a ToC? I'm trying to get ...

cars

  • item 1
  • item 2
  • item 3
  • item 4

trucks

  • item 5
  • item 6
  • item 7

Right now each page has "Cars(or trunks) | item" in it. I'm getting ...

cars

  • item 1

cars

  • item 2

cars

  • item 3

cars

  • item 4

trucks

  • item 5

trucks

  • item 6

trucks

  • item 7
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3 Answers 3

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The result you're getting stems from the fact that you have your category (chapter) name repeating on every page as a result of your data merge, and you're using that as the first-level TOC entry.

Following on from my earlier answer about using the Book Panel, you could simplify this problem by dividing your .csv file into separate files by category. Make each category a separate document in your book, then use this sneaky trick:

  • Set up a new paragraph style called "TOC Category" or something similar.

  • On the first page of each book chapter, add a text frame on the pasteboard (not on the page) and type in the category name. Give this text the "TOC Category" style.

  • Change your TOC Styles to use the new TOC Category style instead of the original.

If I knew more about the workflow involved I could probably come up with some other suggestions, but this should at least ease the pain.

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When you set up the TOC, style your text so that Category and Item each have a unique style.

Then set up your TOC so that the first item uses Paragraph style "Category," but with no page number. The second item should be "Item" with a page number.

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  • Thanks for the response. Thats how I have it setup now, the problem is I don't want it to display the chapter (i.e. car, truck) for every row in the ToC. I just want it display once at the start of the chapter.
    – Ryan Grush
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:08
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    you might have to do a little manual work. Maybe find the first page of the chapter, duplicate your Category style, and call it CategoryFirst. Manually change the style on the first page to CategoryFirst and change the TOC. Or I'm sure Alan has some amazing GREP thing to fix it with one press of a button. :)
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:20
  • Thats the conclusion I'm coming to :( Thanks, you've been very helpful.
    – Ryan Grush
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:50
  • @LaurenIpsum No, not GREP, but there are various ways to skin this cat. I'd likely use your suggestion if it weren't for the fact that this whole workflow is being automated by Data Merge.
    – Alan Gilbertson
    Feb 19, 2012 at 4:10
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It's a 4 years old question, but maybe my reply can help someone else.

I copy the reply I gave here.

You can achieve what you are asking using two TOCs. You can create two different TOCs in InDesign using TOC Styles.

To create the News TOC, you can just use the Default Style TOC. In the document, you should set a paragraph style to each entry of the News TOC. And then generate the TOC.

Then, you should create a TOC Style for Culture, and add a paragraph style to each entry in the InDesign document. Then create the second TOC.

Here there is a step-by-step tutorial in case you need to be guided :)

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