Conditional Text

[M. L. Harvey]

Say you want to produce an installation manual in four
slightly different versions (20% text different in each).
Is there a way to insert conditionalized text so it only
shows up in the appropriate version of the manual. You
then have only one source document and five output
documents.

Thanks,

M. L. Harvey

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, M. L.,

Create four new styles. They can all have the same font and paragraph
formatting as the document's base style, just different names. Apply one
style to material that belongs only in version 1, another to stuff only for
version 2, etc. When you're about to print a particular version, modify the
other three versions' styles to include the Hidden font attribute. For the
next version, unhide that style and modify version 1's style to Hidden.

Of course, if the unique material includes headings, you'll need four new
styles at each heading level; ditto for figure captions and other styles you
use.

If you have to revise and print frequently, a macro could ask which version
is being printed, and do all the style manipulation automatically.