the values of Variables: only per document and not per book?

[Fred Ridder]

Avraham Makeler wrote (in part):> For sure, I can then do the same thing in each chapter, but
> is not the variables scope supposed to be global, i.e., thoughout the book?
 
No, the scope of user variables is deliberately file by file. But it is easy to 
import the values of all variables from one file into all files in a book using
the File>Import>Formats command and importing *only* the "Variable 
Definitions" property. (Be very careful about importing properties you do
not want to set globally because the import operation cannot be undone.) 
 
Note that the import of variables is additive. All variables that are defined
in the source file will be updated in the target files or added to the target
files if they are not already present there. But variables that are in the 
target files but not in the source file will not be affected in any way. 
This means that you may want to adopt the practice of creating an 
otherwise empty template file that defines only the variables you want 
to change globally.
 
Also note that the definitions of system variables such as date variables
and the running header/footer variables are affected by the import formats
operation. If you do not want this to happen, you might want to investigate 
a third-party plug-in that allows you to selectively import format properties.  
 
-Fred Ridder