Display Line Numbers in InDesign

The original and best line-numbering add-on for InDesign

Manually adding line numbers to an InDesign document is error-prone, labor-intensive, and essentially impractical.

Display Line Numbers can number all or part of an InDesign document in moments, and beats all other line-numbering scripts and plug-ins hands down, because (a) it does not slow InDesign down by creating thousands of anchored objects, and (b) it has the widest range of customization options out there.

Main Features

• Add line numbers to all lines of text in a document, or filter by paragraph style.
• Add numbers to every line, or only at user-selected intervals: e.g., 5 … 10 … 15 … 20 or 3 … 6 … 9 … 12 etc.
• The line numbers are placed in a text frame with their own object style, and the line numbers are given their own paragraph style – so you can quickly and easily change all aspects of the line-number formatting.
• Supports multi-column layouts.
• Number consecutively throughout a document, or restart the numbering with each page.
• Works with footnotes and even with continued footnotes!
• New in version 4: Works with tables!
• Automatically restart the numbering whenever a particular paragraph style is reached (for instance, a “Poem Title” style).
• Opt to number paragraphs rather than lines.
• Optimized for speed.
• One-click undo.
• Works with CS4 upwards, including the very latest Creative Cloud version!
• … and much more!

Demo Download

Click here to download a trial version of this script.

Uses

• For print: With the ability to style the line numbers any way you like, Display Line Numbers creates numbers that will look great in the final, published product. Poetry, academic editions of classic texts and legal publications, to name a few, require printed line numbers in the margins. Display Line Numbers has all the options you need to make this happen.
• For communicating: Use with the new CC 2015 “Publish Online” feature for a new review-cycle paradigm: Add line numbers to your document, click the “Publish Online” button, and share the online document with clients, editors, or authors. The embedded line numbers will make it simple for everyone to communicate clearly and concisely where they are referring to in the document.
• For proofing: As a publisher or book designer, you may often receive long lists of corrections from authors and editors that say something like: “23rd line from bottom, please add a comma.” Apart from the time wasted in counting lines, the instructions are not as clear as they seem: Does 23 include footnotes? Subheads? With Display Line Numbers, everyone involved in the correction and proofing cycle can communicate clearly what they mean and where they are referring to.

Before

After

How To Use the Script

In the script dialog box (shown below), select whether you wish to add numbers to the entire document, the current story, or the selected text frame only.

Choose whether you wish to add numbers to each line or at intervals (between 1 and 20) – simply select your desired interval from the dropdown menu.

Choose whether you would like the numbering to restart on each page, or whether an entire story should be renumbered consecutively.

Choose where you’d like the numbers to be placed. There are 4 options in the dropdown menu: “Outside Margin” will place the numbers in the left margin on a left-hand page, and in the right margin on a right-hand page. “Inside Margin” will place the numbers near the binding edge. The other two options will force the numbers to always be placed in the left or right margin, respectively, regardless of which page they appear on.

Choose whether you want to number paragraphs instead of lines. If you select this option, you can then choose whether to display the paragraph number next to the first line of the paragraph or next to the last line.

Choose which paragraph styles you’d like to number: double-click on a paragraph style in the list on the left to select/deselect it, or use the “Select All” and “Deselect All” button at the bottom of the list.

If you are using consecutive numbering (that doesn’t restart at 1 on each page), enter the number you would like numbering to commence at in the “Start at” field.

Finally, you can choose to restart the numbering whenever the script reaches a certain paragraph style. For instance, in a book of poetry, you may want the numbering to restart whenever the script reaches a paragraph style called “Poem Title” so that the numbering in each poem restarts at 1. To do this, select the desired paragraph style in the list, and click on the Restart button. The paragraph style will be marked with a {RESTART} tag in the list. To remove the tag, simply click on the Restart button again.

Once you have set all the options (which are stored with the document so it is not necessary to set them more than once) simply click on the Replace Numbers buttons. You may also click on the Add Numbers buttons. The difference between these two buttons is as their name suggests: The Replace Numbers button will delete any existing line number frames before applying the new line numbers, whereas the Add Numbers button will simply add a new set of numbers on the page and not delete any previous number frames. Although this behavior can be useful on occasion, you will normally want to use the Replace Numbers button because this avoids inadvertently creating two sets of line numbers on the same page.

To remove numbers from the document, you can click on the Remove Numbers button. Alternatively, you can delete the special layer created by the script (in the Layers panel) to remove all the line numbers throughout the document.

Tips

• To choose the distance you would like the numbers to be from the main text frame, there are two options:
  (1) Via the Line Numbers Object Style. Edit the style: Under the Text
  Frame General Options tab, modify the value of the Right (or Left) Inset
  Spacing field as needed.
  (2) Via the Line Numbers Paragraph Style. Edit the style: Under the
  Indents and Spacing tab, modify the value of the Right (or Left) Indent
  field as needed.
• Hover the mouse over many of the controls in the dialog box to see a brief explanatory note.

For the technically minded: The script adds a new text frame or text frames alongside the selected frames. In this new text frame it adds the line numbers and then adjusts their baseline shift so that they line up precisely with their corresponding line of text. The new text frame is placed on a special layer created by the script. The script creates an object style which is applied to the numbers text frame, as well as a paragraph style which is applied to the numbers paragraphs. A new RGB swatch is also created.

Instant Download

To purchase the full version of Display Line Numbers for only $49 USD, click the “Buy Now” button. Your product and serial numbers will be available for instant download when you complete the purchase.

Money-back Guarantee

If you are not satisfied with the Display Line Numbers script for any reason, simply let us know within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.