Structure pane overview
The Structure pane displays, in hierarchical form, items in a document that have been marked with XML tags. These items are called elements. You can move elements in the Structure pane to define the order and hierarchy of items. An element consists of an icon indicating the element type and a tag name.
- A.
- Triangles to expand or collapse elements
- B.
- Element
- C.
- Text snippet
- D.
- Attribute
Additionally, elements may provide this information:
- Blue diamond
- A blue diamond on an element icon means that the element is attached to an item on the page; the absence of a blue diamond means that the element has not been attached to a page item.
- Underline
- The tag name is underlined if the item on the page to which the element corresponds is selected. For example, if you select text to which you assigned the Title tag, the word Title in the text’s element is underlined in the Structure pane. Underlining shows you whether selected items on the page and elements in the Structure pane correspond.
- Text snippet
- The first 32 characters of tagged text, called a text snippet, can appear to the right of the element. These snippets help you identify the page item to which an element corresponds.
- Dot and attribute
- Attributes provide metadata information about an element. If attributes are attached to an element, a black dot along with attribute names and values appear below the element.
Use the Structure pane
- To open the Structure
pane, choose View > Structure > Show Structure,
or click the splitter button
(at
the bottom of the document window). - To close the Structure pane, choose View > Structure > Hide Structure, or click the splitter button.
- To expand or collapse an element (and display or hide any of its child elements), click the triangle next to the element.
- To adjust the size of the Structure pane, drag the splitter button.
- To expand or contract an element as well as all elements contained within it, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) while clicking the triangle next to the element.
- To show or hide text snippets, choose Show Text Snippets or Hide Text Snippets from the Structure pane menu.
Structure pane icons
The following icons appear in the Structure pane:
|
Icon |
Name |
Use |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Root element |
Each document includes one root element at the top, which can be renamed but cannot be moved or deleted. |
|
|
Story element |
Represents tagged stories (one or more linked frames). |
|
|
Text element |
Represents tagged text within a frame. |
|
|
Graphic element |
Represents a tagged frame that includes a placed image. Each graphic element includes an href attribute that defines the path or URL to the linked file. |
|
|
Unplaced text element |
Unplaced text element not yet associated with a page item. |
|
|
Unplaced graphic element |
Unplaced graphic element not yet associated with a page item. |
|
|
Table element |
Represents a table. |
|
|
Header cell element |
Represents a cell in the header row of a table. |
|
|
Body cell element |
Represents a cell within the body of a table. |
|
|
Footer cell element |
Represents a cell in the footer row of a table. |
|
|
Empty element |
An empty frame is associated with this element. |
|
|
Attribute |
Includes metadata, such as keywords or location of a linked image (HREF attribute). |
|
|
Comment |
Includes comments that appear in the XML file, but not the InDesign document. |
|
|
Processing instruction |
Includes an instruction that triggers an action in applications that can read processing instructions. |
|
|
DOCTYPE element |
Tells InDesign which DTD file to use when validating the XML file. |
