Cannot get "only shrink" to fit

MichaelG

I imported the text and set the font to 130 points which is the largest text size that I want used on any frame. I tried selecting all the text and then running your script using “Currently selected Text Frames” and “Only shrink text to Fit”.

The script started running and seems to have ended normally.

But I do not see any font size adjustment for text that flows onto the next page.

Please test the file and tell me what I am doing wrong.

Ariel

Hi Michael,
I received the file, thanks. I'll take a look and post back.
Ariel

MichaelG

Any chance it would be today?

Ariel

Hi Michael,
So essentially, the file is made of of some 900 pages, each with a single text frame.
These frames are all threaded together, so essentially we have a single long story here.
The text inside is a collection of proverbs.
You would like each proverb to appear in a single frame, and you'd like Fit Text to adjust the proverb so it fits the frame, whether that involves shrinking the text or enlarging it.
Am I right so far?
You do not mind if the text on some pages is larger or smaller than on the other pages. The main thing is that it should fit the frame. Correct?

MichaelG

the font is inititally set to 130 points which is the largest text size that I want used on any frame. So I would only want the font reduced.

MichaelG

Anything that fits the page at 130 is fine

Ariel

Right, but you want 1 saying per frame, correct?
And I also saw that each saying is a single paragraph.
So essentially, we want 1 paragraph per frame throughout?
These facts are all relevant for thinking of a way to do this.

MichaelG

Yes that is correct

Ariel

Ok. So the only way to get different sizes of text in each text frame, with Fit Text, is to break the text thread between the frames, and only then run Fit Text.
We have an advantage here, though, that each frame gets only one paragraph (with a style applied called "Quote Screens".)
So what I would do is:
(1) Set the Quote Screens style to start in a new frame. That's an option in the paragraph style definition.
(2) Reduce the font size of the Quote Screens to something very small, say 5pt.
Now we have a situation where each, entire paragraph is in its own frame, so we're ready to break the text threads.
(3) Run the "Break Text Thread" script that comes with InDesign.
(4) Set the font size of the Quote Screens style to 130pt.
(5) Finally, run Fit Text, choosing the "Only shrink text to fit, never enlarge" option.
You should now find that the text of each proverb fits in the frame, with a maximum size of 130pt.
You should probably keep a copy of the original version of the document before all these manipulations, so that it can be easily edited, or so that you can revert to it in case something goes wrong.

MichaelG

Ariel
I followed this process and, for the most part it did the job.
What did not work was:

There were 25 to 30 pages where the text was not reduced to fit and the text went into overflow, the + sign in the bottom right corner of the frame.
Did not count them but there were quite a few instances where there were only 2 or 3 lines but rather than vertically centering the text, as was done on the other pages, it was aligned to the very top of the frame.

Aside from this it did what I was expecting.
Should you wish to debug this you have the same file as I used. There may be another way of detecting the pages that overflowed but the way I used was to Export the file as a PDF and it indicated there were overflows and provided a list of the page numbers.

Thanks for your help and please let me know if/when you correct these issues as I will be repeating the process again in the future.

MichaelG

Is there any likelihood you will be able to correct these issues?

Ariel

@MichaelG I haven't had a chance to look into it with the specifics of your document, yet. I hope to, but it might take a while.
Having said that, Fit Text is a popular script and I haven't heard of issues with it not working (though anything is possible). So I suspect that if you check out the problematic frames, you might be able to see what is preventing it working.
For instance, the issue of some frames being top-aligned instead of vertically centered is very unlikely to be caused by Fit Text, since it doesn't touch the vertical alignment options of a frame to the best of my recollection...

MichaelG

Given changes to V3 is it still necessary to break the frame links to achieve the same outcome?

Ariel

MichaelG Yes, it's still necessary. If the frames are connected, we have a single story, and FitText enlarges and/or reduces the text in a single story by the same extent, whereas you want different sized text in different frames.

MichaelG

How about limiting the maximum font size?

Ariel

So, the way to limit the font size is to make it as big as your maximum permissible size, and then choose "shrink only".
But again, all the text in all frames of a threaded story will be enlarged or reduced by the same percentage. If you need different percentages for different frames, they have to be unthreaded.

MichaelG

Ariel
If you set the fonts to 130 point then the text will overflow beyond the intended last text frame and then you cannot break the links and cause the text to flow into the overflow cache.

The only way I have found around this is to set it to a small size, break the frame links, then perform Fit to Frame, then use find and replace to change the minimum size, say 60 pt, to 130 pt.

Kind of a long way around.

MichaelG

Thanks will try that

How do you select multiple frames?

Ariel

MichaelG You can only select multiple frames if they're on the same spread.

MichaelG

Is there an opposite to Break all text threads Link All Text Threads?

Ariel

MichaelG Is there an opposite to Break all text threads Link All Text Threads?

You might be able to find something. I think I mention a couple here: https://www.id-extras.com/one-click-export-indesign-to-word/

Ariel

MichaelG Kind of a long way around

Yes, but if you were to use paragraph styles, you wouldn't need to do a find/change, just change the point size in the paragraph style to small, break text thread, paragraph style point size to 130, Fit Text.
Anyway, currently there is no way to set a max point size with FitText. It's something I need to find the time to add.