{"id":6847,"date":"2024-12-05T20:38:52","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T03:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rorohiko.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=6847"},"modified":"2025-12-14T01:53:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T08:53:05","slug":"gryperlink-for-indesign","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rorohiko.com\/wordpress\/indesign-downloads\/gryperlink-for-indesign\/","title":{"rendered":"GryperLink for InDesign"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is GryperLink<\/em>?<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

GryperLink<\/em> is a script for Adobe InDesign.<\/p>\n

It can automatically assign interactive hyperlinks to InDesign text or images, based on find-and-insert pattern matching. These links are preserved when exporting to an interactive PDF.<\/p>\n

An Example<\/h1>\n

GryperLink<\/em> comes bundled with a sample document – below some screenshots using that sample document to clarify what it does.<\/p>\n

Before:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We see some text, with product codes in blue (formatted with a character style Partnumber). <\/em><\/p>\n

The goal is to attach hyperlinks to those product codes, so that when we export this document to PDF, the product codes can be clicked and the user’s browser will show a web page using that hyperlink.<\/p>\n

Double-click GryperLink.jsx<\/em> on the Scripts panel and you will get this:
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

GREP Flavors<\/h2>\n

GryperLink<\/em> uses a configuration text frame on the pasteboard of the targeted document.<\/p>\n

For the search-and-match process, it relies on GREP (Global Regular Expression Print) expressions.<\/p>\n

These are specially coded patterns that explain what GryperLink<\/em> should look for – e.g. a pattern like \\d means: look for a digit (0 – 9).<\/p>\n

There are many flavors of GREP, all slightly different.<\/p>\n

The GREP expressions used by GryperLink<\/em> are based on JavaScript GREP. For more info about JavaScript GREP, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note that the InDesign Find\/Change function also supports a flavor of GREP.<\/p>\n

InDesign GREP is different to JavaScript GREP, but the basic concept remain the same. The main differences are in the meaning of some of the ‘magical’ patterns like ~n or \\S.<\/p>\n

GryperLink<\/em> Configuration<\/h2>\n

The sample document has this configuration frame on the pasteboard:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a lot of commenting there.<\/p>\n

Let me remove the comments, and whittle down the frame contents to just the relevant data.<\/p>\n

We’ll only look at the [text link]<\/code> – the [image link]<\/code> is treated in a similar fashion, but instead of matching on the text, we’re matching on the image file path.<\/p>\n

[gryperlink]\r\n\r\n[text link]\r\n    match text = \\b(\\d{6}-\\d{2})\\s\r\n    link = https:\/\/rorohiko.com?SAMPLE_PARAM=$1\r\n    apply char style name = HyperLinkStyle\r\n    case sensitive = no\r\n    match paragraph style =\r\n    match character style = ^(Partnumber|HyperLinkStyle)$\r\n    match font name =\r\n\r\n[image link]\r\n    match file path = ^\\b(\\d{6}-\\d{2}).tif$\r\n    link = https:\/\/rorohiko.com?SAMPLE_PARAM=$1\r\n    case sensitive = no\r\n<\/pre>\n
This tells GryperLink<\/em> to search all text in the document, matching against a GREP expression \\b(\\d{6}-\\d{2})\\s<\/code><\/p>\n
Taking all that apart, we can see
\n\\d<\/code> = a digit
\n\\d{6}<\/code> = six digits (0-9)
\n\\d{2}<\/code> = two digits (0-9)
\n\\d{6}-\\d{2}<\/code> = some product code structured like 123456-78
\n(\\d{6}-\\d{2})<\/code> = parenthesis make this become the replacement value of the magical $1
\n\\s<\/code> = some whitespace character
\n\\b<\/code> = word boundary<\/p>\n
All in all this means: match any text that starts at a word boundary, then six digits, a dash, two digits, and a white space character.<\/p>\n
Each time GryperLink<\/em> finds a match, it will also look at the character style. The character style needs to be either Partnumber<\/em> or HyperLinkStyle<\/em><\/p>\n
When a match is found, the hyperlink to be injected is calculated by replacing the $1<\/code> in https:\/\/rorohiko.com?SAMPLE_PARAM=$1<\/code> with whatever corresponded to \\d{6}-\\d{2}<\/code> in the text.<\/p>\n
If the matched text was 123456-78<\/code>, then the calculated hyperlink will be https:\/\/rorohiko.com?SAMPLE_PARAM=123456-78<\/code>, and this is what is assigned to the text.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the text will be formatted in the character style HyperLinkStyle (<\/em>apply char style name).<\/p>\n
Running GryperLink<\/em> results in this:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Installing GryperLink<\/em><\/h1>\n
    \n
  1. Download PluginInstaller<\/em><\/strong>.
    \nIf you\u2019ve not done this before, download and install the free PluginInstaller <\/em>from     PluginInstaller.com<\/a>.
    \nMake sure you have build #638 or higher installed (the build number is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the PluginInstaller<\/em> windows).<\/li>\n
  2. Create an Account<\/strong>.
    \nIf this is your first time using PluginInstaller<\/em>, you\u2019ll need to create a new account and register it within PluginInstaller<\/em>.
    \nMake sure to check your email, and click the confirmation link in the registration email!<\/li>\n
  3. Add a GryperLink<\/em> Bookmark<\/strong>.
    \nAdd a bookmark for GryperLink<\/em> into PluginInstaller<\/em> by clicking the following link:
    \n    Add GryperLink<\/em> Bookmark into PluginInstaller<\/em><\/a>
    \nAlternatively, you can use the Browse the Store for Software<\/em> window in PluginInstaller, <\/em>then find and click the GryperLink<\/em> product listing in the Rorohiko Catalog<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  4. Download and Install<\/strong>.
    \nOnce the bookmark is listed in the Installing and Ordering<\/em> window, select it and click the Download<\/em> button.
    \nAfter the download, choose your InDesign version from the Install Target<\/em> dropdown menu and click the Install<\/em> button.
    \nVersion 20.0 is InDesign 2025, Version 21.0 is InDesign 2026.
    \nGryperLink<\/em> will appear in the InDesign Scripts<\/em> panel under the User<\/em> section. If not, and you have multiple versions of InDesign on your computer, make sure you picked the correct Install Target.<\/em>\"\"<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    GryperLink<\/em> is now available on your InDesign Scripts<\/em> Panel (Window – Utilities – Scripts<\/em>):<\/p>\n
    \"\"<\/p>\n
    You can double click the Copy Sample File… <\/em>to copy a sample file to your Desktop, and open it in InDesign.<\/p>\n
    For your own documents, you can copy the configuration frame from this sample file onto the pasteboard of your own documents, and use it as a template\/starter.<\/p>\n
    Be Safe<\/h1>\n
    When using GryperLink<\/em>, make sure to save the original document in a safe location before using the script!<\/p>\n
    GryperLink<\/em> makes massive changes to your document, and there is no ‘undo’ – if you get the configuration wrong, you might end up with an unusable document.<\/p>\n
    If you safeguard a copy of the original, that’ll allow you to go back and try again.<\/p>\n
    It’s a good idea to compress the original into a .zip file – the odds are small that even with a wrong move you’ll actually overwrite the document inside the .zip.<\/p>\n
    Demo Version\/Purchasing<\/h1>\n
    GryperLink<\/em> comes as a demo script: each time you run it, it will insert at most 50 hyperlinks at a time, and ask for confirmation. It is fully functional but for a large document, the process is tedious.<\/p>\n
    It’s better to upgrade to a full version. For a mere US$ 9.00 per seat, per year, GryperLink<\/em> will handle an unlimited amount of links in one go.<\/p>\n
    Go to the Installing and Ordering<\/em> window, select the GryperLink<\/em> bookmark, and click Purchase<\/em>.<\/p>\n
    Activation may take some time to process; keep an eye on the Licenses, Activations, and Pending Orders<\/em> window for updates.<\/p>\n
    Configuration<\/h1>\n
    You define the behavior of the script by placing a text frame with configuration data on a document’s pasteboard.<\/p>\n
    INI configuration frame<\/h2>\n
    The format is pretty self-explanatory; skip ahead to ‘Description of the Options’ if you ‘grok’ things already.<\/p>\n
    Here is the detailed TL;DR<\/a> information for the formatting rules:<\/p>\n
    The text frame is formatted in a format similar to the old-style Windows INI format, with some additional flexibility built-in.<\/p>\n
    The advantages of this approach is that each document can ‘carry’ its own configuration and the configuration is plain for everyone to see, in a human-readable form, rather than being hidden away on some preferences dialog.<\/p>\n