Introduction

ArticleShapeExtractor is a set of InDesign scripts that export the content of existing layout as ArticleShapes used for Print Layout Automation

Installation

The scripts can be used from either the user or the application Scripts folder. To locate the folder start InDesign, select Window > Utilities > Scripts to display the Scripts panel, right click the Application or User folder and select Reveal in Finder. This will take you to the Scripts Panel folder which is located in the Scripts folder.

Copy the ArticleShapeExtractor folder to Scripts\Scripts Panel folder. Copy the files in Startup Scripts to Scripts\Startup Scripts folder.

After (re)starting InDesign the main menu has an Extract article shapes menu is added to the WoodWing Studio menu

Configure keyboard shortcuts

Open keyboards shortcuts dialog Edit->Keyboard Shortcuts... Select product area scripts Attach the following keyboard shortcuts

• Shift-Cmd-J to ArticleShapeExtractor:CreateLeadArticle.jsx
• Shift-Cmd-K to ArticleShapeExtractor:CreateSecondaryArticle.jsx
• Shift-Cmd-L to ArticleShapeExtractor:CreateThirdArticle.jsx
• Shift-Cmd-; to ArticleShapeExtractor:CreateFillerArticle.jsx
• Shift-Cmd-E to ArticleShapeExtractor:ExtractArticleShapes.jsx Save it as a new set

Usage

• Create InDesign Articles with frames for each ArticleShape you would like to export, the name should contain: Lead, Secondary, Third, Filler
  • Shift-Cmd-J to create a Lead article
  • Shift-Cmd-K to create a Secondary article
  • Shift-Cmd-L to create a Third article
  • Shift-Cmd-; to create a Filler article
• Select "Extract article shapes" (Shift-Cmd-E) from the WoodWing Studio menu
• Select a folder to export the shapes to
• For each Indesign article a idms, jpg and json file is created
• You can use the generated images to verify if the export was correct

The extracted Article Shapes can be converted to a Print Layout Automation csv/xls using this link