Cross-references and text insets

[Combs, Richard]

Peter Kelly wrote: 
 
> We are working with unstructured FM 8 on Vista. I have a chapter which
> has several user workflows all of which have one or two procedures that
> are common, so I decided to use text insets. At the beginning of each
> workflow then I have summaries of all the steps that cross-reference the
> procedures. Sometimes the same procedure (a text inset) might be in
> several workflows.
> 
> 
> 
> All this to say that I have cross-references to the same text inset that
> appears in several places in the same container document. I have tried
> manually placing the marker inside the text inset file and then
> inserting the cross-references from the container document. When I
> create the cross-reference I select target paragraphs from within the
> current container document. When I update the book file though the page
> number of the first text inset seems to be propagated to all the other
> cross-references. I thought the whole point of text insets was to reuse
> them multiple times even in the same container document if need be. I
> guess not if they need to be cross-referenced? Am I doing something
> wrong or should I just forget about trying to cross-reference the same
> text inset in several places in the same container document?

You're inserting cross-references to text insets correctly. And FM is resolving them correctly. Here's the problem: The text inset is identical in each place where you import it; that's the whole point, after all. But that means if you put three xref markers in it, they all three exist in each place where the text inset exists. 

Each time you cross-reference one of those markers, FM finds it in the first instance of the text inset and considers its job done. :-)

The simplest solution is don't include the heading for the procedure in the text inset; put it in the container doc, even if that means repeating the same heading text several times. Then point your xrefs to the appropriate instance of the heading. 

IMHO, this is a good idea even if you don't have the multiple xref issue. 

HTH!

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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