30 Tips For Indesign Users EN

30 (practical)
TIPS
for InDesign users.
Because of my job at Redokun, I analyze documents created by designers from all around the world
every day.
Unfortunately, the majority of these documents either contain many mistakes or are built inefficiently.
With this document, I would like to give you a quick-guide that you can use to improve your skills
in a very short period of time.
If you like the content in this guide, I have two favours to ask:
• Send it to your friends who use InDesign;
• Share the link on social media/blogs/websites so that other people might learn about this
guide, read it, and improve their skills.
Why should you read this?

In this guide, I tried to condense all the main tips I would share with any InDesign users.
These tips will help you:

• Understand the mistakes you might be making,
• Learn how to fix your document;
• Learn new tools that will save you lots time (and stimulate your curiosity);
• Improve the look of your documents;
• Collaborate better with other InDesign users.
I promise you this: after applying the suggestions in this document, you won’t want to go back to
the way you were working before!
What’s waiting for you at the end?

After reading this document:
You’ll know how to use InDesign better.
You’ll work faster in InDesign.
Producing your documents will take less time.
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1 30 Tips for InDesign Users
Who’s the author?
My name is Stefano Bernardi, I co-founded Redokun in 2015,
and I spend most of my time helping customers optimize
their InDesign workflow.
From time to time, I write for InDesignSecrets and InDesign

Magazine. I also curate our company blog that helps 80.000
people each month with their InDesign issues.
Things to know before you start reading

I’ll stress on each page about how Paragraph and Character Styles are fundamental!
If you don’t know how Paragraph Styles work, you’ll find some instructions in this document, but
there are also a few more resources you might want to look into:
• This guide on our blog: https://redokun.com/blog/indesign-paragraph-styles
To improve your knowledge of InDesign (and learn about Paragraph Styles), you might also want
to check out:
• The latest course from David Blatner. I’ll link a blog post as it is easier for me to update that:
https://redokun.com/blog/indesign-course
• If you speak Italian, my (15+ hour long) course: http://indesignacademy.it
Do you work on documents that have to be translated?

I created another version of this document that contains:
• All the information you’ll find inside this PDF;
• Additional Tips for those of us who work on documents that will be translated into
more languages.
Download it here!
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Table of Contents
1) Show hidden characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 16) Pay attention to bullet and

numbered lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2) Don’t use hard-return incorrectly . . . . 5
17) How to deal with list that have
3) Don’t use soft-return incorrectly . . . . . 6 icons or special characters . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4) Remove local formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 18) How to deal with chapter and sub-
How to remove stubborn local chapter numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
formatting
19) Avoid graphical elements in
5) Pay attention to the language applied 9 paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6) Check the spelling automatically . . . . 10 20) Use GREPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7) Don’t use different containers for 21) Fix widow words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

title and text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
22) Try nested styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8) Avoid creating space with
paragraphs returns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 23) Create styles quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9) Don’t have mixed columns of text . . . . 13 24) Use the Find/Change to fix your
styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10) Jump column/page using a control
character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 25) Create the styles with a script . . . . . . . . 31
11) Jump column using Paragraph Styles . 15 26) Redefine styles and find style changes 32
12) Anchor objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 27) Fix orphan rows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

How to anchor an object
28) Clean additional spaces/returns/etc. . 34
13) Avoid embedding images . . . . . . . . . . . 18
29) Take advantage of InDesign
14) Avoid using different containers . . . . . 19 preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Use object styles for repetitive
layouts 30) Create a Font to deal with special
icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
15) Use indents instead of tabs . . . . . . . . . . 21
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1) Show hidden characters
InDesign uses special text characters that are invisible to your eye and in the printed version of your document.
These characters are called control characters. They are used, for example, to wrap lines, break paragraphs, space
words, etc.
One improperly used hidden character can lead to a mistake.
We will explore later which hidden characters might be dangerous and which ones we might want
to start using.
But it’s important that we constantly have a deep understanding of the structure of our document.
That means that we should be able to see all control characters.
Make sure “View” > “Screen Mode” is set to “Normal”.
On the top menu bar, click on “Type” > “Show Hidden Characters”.
If you want to set this as a default, activate “Show Hidden Characters” with all documents closed.
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2) Don’t use hard-return incorrectly
In InDesign, every hard-return creates a new paragraph.
This means that a full sentence containing a hard-return right in the middle is in fact 2
different sentences.
Not paying attention to this important fact creates a few issues:

• Setting up and applying paragraph styles can become difficult – right now it might not be
an important factor for you, but it will be if you plan to improve how you work in InDesign;
• Forget about accessibility for people with disabilities. They won’t be able to consume
your content.
In the follwing picture, you can see highlighted in red the parts that should not have a hard return
at the end. In green are examples of hard returns used correctly (ends of paragraphs).
y Do NOT use a hard-return: To wrap text.
k Use a hard-return: To create a new paragraph.
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3) Don’t use soft-return incorrectly
The soft-return is also called “Forced Line Break” in InDesign.
When you place a “Forced Line Break”, you create a new line, but you don’t create a new paragraph.
If we take into consideration the title in the image below, that title is indeed one single paragraph
with a line break in the middle.
Why should you care about it?

• The text will be accessible to people with disabilities as well.
• You can apply a paragraph style to the entire paragraph (the title in this case) and better control
the layout.
To place a soft-return:
Click on “Type” > “Insert Break Character” > “Forced Line Break”.
Or
Press Shift + Return on your keyboard.
In the picture, you can see highlighted in red the parts that should not have a soft return at the
end. In green are examples of soft returns used correctly (ends of paragraphs).
y Do NOT use a soft-return: between different paragraphs.
k Use a soft-return: To create a new line inside a paragraph.
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4) Remove local formatting
Try this:
Open the “Paragraph Styles” panel (“Window” > “Styles” > “Paragraph Styles”).
Activate the “Style Override Highlighter” by clicking on the “[a+]” icon.
The “Style Override Highlighter” highlights any text that has local formatting applied to it. I highly
suggest you keep it always activated.
“Local” formatting is any formatting on top of the paragraph style. For example, if you select a few words and
change their size in the Control panel, that’s local formatting.
You want to avoid local formatting as much as possible because every time a blue highlight starts
is a group of characters with different formatting.
If you were to update the formatting of your text, these different groups would all retain different
pieces of information making it hard to update the text style and easy to introduce mistakes.
y Do NOT edit the formatting locally.
k Apply always the formatting using Paragraph Styles, and use Character Styles to deal with
formatting exceptions.
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Tip: How to remove stubborn local formatting
Do you still have some stubborn formatting that for some reason you are not able to fix?
Open the “Paragraph Styles” panel.
Select the text with the stubborn local formatting.
Click on the “Clear overrides in selection” icon at the bottom of the panel.
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5) Pay attention to the language applied
The language attribute is used in two important features:
• Hyphenation;
• Spell-check (See "Check the spelling automatically" on page 10)
If you don’t set up this attribute inside the Paragraph Style to reflect the text language, InDesign
won’t be able to hyphenate the text correctly.
Inside the Paragraph Style options, click on the “Advanced Characters Formats” tab, and
change the “Language” attribute.
If there are words in your text that are in a different language from the main one in use, you can assign to those
exceptions a Character Style with the correct “Language” attribute.
y Do NOT assign the wrong language value to your text: it will break the hyphenation and
spell-check features.
k If you have the hyphenation active, make sure to update the language attribute in the
Paragraph Styles for each translated document.
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6) Check the spelling automatically
InDesign has an integrated spell-check feature.
Make sure the “Language” attribute applied to the formatting is set to the correct language.
Click on “Edit” > “Spelling” and choose either “Check spelling” or “Dynamic spelling”.
InDesign will underline spelling mistakes in red, and grammar issues in green.
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7) Don’t use different containers for title and text
This issue is not limited to documents that have to be translated. It also effects your normal use
of InDesign.
• If you edit the text, you might have to resize the container;
• You might also have to manually change the position of each text;
• The space between title and text is difficult to control;
• You cannot change the space between title and text automatically.
We want to avoid the need to perform a manual choice/edit where possible. Our goal should be
automating as many parts of the layout as possible.
7.1. Control the space between titles and text
Place title and text in the same container and assign the correct Paragraph Styles.
Open the Paragraph Style assigned to the title, go to the “Indents and Spacing” tab. Edit
“Space After” to add space between title and text.
y Do NOT use different containers for titles and text.
k Use “Space Before” and “Space After” to control the space between different
paragraph styles.
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8) Avoid creating space with paragraphs returns
This issue limits your control over the text in your document. It might lead you to make mistakes or
spend lots of time on manual edits because:
• The space between different paragraphs might not be precise;
• You cannot change the space between title and text automatically.
The two text-boxes below are exactly the same. They have the same content and the same styles
applied. What changed was the position of my pointer when I hit return. Mine was an easy
mistake that nobody would ever even notice. Right?!
To avoid a similar mistake, you should use the Paragraph Style settings.
8.1. Control the space between paragraphs of the same style
Open the Paragraph Style assigned to the title, go to the “Indents and Spacing” tab. Edit
“Space Between Paragraphs Using Same Style” to add space between the paragraphs.
y Do NOT use SOFT or HARD returns to add space between paragraphs.
k Use “Space Between Paragraphs Using Same Style” to control the space between
different paragraphs.
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9) Don’t have mixed columns of text
Following the example below, if the title in our translation takes up only one line, we will have to:
• Reduce the container on top;
• Move up the container on the bottom.
But we want the entire group of text to be fixed automatically. InDesign should do the work for us.
We saw how “Space After” and “Space Before” can help us in these cases.
Now let’s see how – inside the same container – you can have one text in one single column and
one text divided into two (or more) columns.
There are 3 ways of creating column text with InDesign. You can read more in our blog.
Based on the number of columns you added to your container, you can either:
• Span the title to all columns;
• Split the text in 2+ columns.
Make sure title and text are in the same container.
Open the Paragraph Style assigned to the text/title, go to the “Span Columns” tab, and
change the settings under “Paragraph Layout”.
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10) Jump column/page using a control character
In the "Don’t use different containers for title and text" tip, we saw how we should place different
parts of our text in the same text-frame.
While in the"Don’t have mixed columns of text" tip, we learned how to deal with text that takes
up a different number of columns.
Precisely controlling the position of your content in InDesign is fundamental. Let’s see how
“Column Break” can help.
In the image below, you can see where the “Column Breaks” are placed, and the effect they have on
the text. You can use a “Column Break” to force your text to jump:
• Into a new column;
• Into a new container.
On your keyboard, press “Fn” + “Return” to place a “Column Break”.
You can also clearly see how any change to each paragraph length (both shorter and longer) won’t
require manual edits.
y Don’t resize containers to make the text “jump” to a new column.
k Use a “Column Break” to control where a textual content should start.
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11) Jump column using Paragraph Styles
Do you want the chapters in your book to always start from a new page? Or any odd or even page?
Or from a new column? Or a new frame?
You don’t need to go crazy with the “Column Break” character we saw on "Jump column/page
using a control character". There is an option inside the Paragraph Style that can help.
Open the Paragraph Style that you always want to have as the beginning of a new page/
column/frame, click on the tab “Keep Options” and change the options in
“Start Paragraph”.
By using this option and the Column Break, you can divide your document in compartments so
that it’s easier to:
• Have complete control over the layout, and see where you should add more space so that a
longer text (translation) can fit in;
• Find and fix possible issues;
• Create a more accessible document.
y Don’t resize containers to make the text “jump” to a new column.
k Use “Start Paragraph” to break the text flow and have better control over your document.
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12) Anchor objects
Sometimes, you have a piece of content (an image, a quote, a box of text, etc..) linked to a specific
information in your page.
We saw how we can control our layout so it automatically adapts to a longer text. Now we learn how
to anchor something to a specific part of your text.
Imagine having a text that explains how to prepare coffee with the coffee-machine you just bought.
Each steps has it’s own image to help you understand quickly what you should do.
You want each image to be linked to its instructions. If you move the text, the image follows the
text and stays where it should be. This is what anchored objects do.
Anchored objects will ensure that:

• The linked content stays in the correct position;
• You don’t have to manually reposition parts of your layout.
Go to "How to anchor an object" on page 17 to see how to anchor an object.
y Avoid placing floating objects/images.
k Anchored objects will keep informations (text+image) linked between each other in the
correct position.
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Tip: How to anchor an object
You can anchor an object (image, text-frame, shape, etc..) to a text so that:
• You can set a precise position;
• You make sure that it moves every time the text changes position;
Select the triangle.
At the top, you can see a little blue square. Press the “Alt” key (on Windows) or the
“Option” key (on MacOS) and click on the little square, now drag the square into the text-
box.
As soon as the mouse pointer meets the text-box, you’ll see a black line that will follow
your movements. That black line indicates where you are placing the anchor
Based on where you want to place the object, in connection with your text, I suggest that
you place it at one of the two extremities of the paragraph. Make sure to place the anchor
after the text, at the very end of the paragraph (after the punctuation if present) or at the
very beginning, before any character.
When you let the click go, InDesign opens a new pop-up. This pop-up allows you to
adjust how the anchored object should behave, how it should look like, or where it should
be positioned.
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13) Avoid embedding images
This is more of a heads-up.
Copying and pasting images from other programs might be risky because usually:
• The file becomes heavier and harder to manage;
• The file risks becoming corrupt, which means it won’t open;
• Modifying images becomes harder.
Some InDesign experts define a few extreme cases in which you should incorporate images. I wholeheartedly
disagree. Every time I had trouble opening an InDesign file it was due to a corrupt image.
Unembed Embedded Images
Don’t worry if you have a file with embedded images. You can use a script to extract both embedded
and pasted images, save them into a given folder, and replace them with linked images.
Links to scripts might change or they might become broken. To make sure the link is always
working, I’ll direct you to this post on InDesign scripts (This way it’s easier for me to keep everything
updated). Once you’ll connect to that page, search for “Unembed” or “Embedded Images”, and
you’ll find the script right away.
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14) Avoid using different containers
Consider the 3 ways of creating the layout in the image below.
Number 1: Rely completely on manual editing. The designer has to pay attention to every
single detail.
Number 2: Use some of the tips we saw. For example, titles and descriptions are in the same
containers (see "Don’t use different containers for title and text"). And the images are anchored (see
"Anchor objects"). But there are still some issues.
Number 3: is what you should aim for:
Place the text inside a single container and use “Space Before” and “Space After” to add
space between the different paragraphs/groups.
Anchor the images to their text (see "How to anchor an object"), and create an “Object Style”
to control their position.
k By setting up your layout in this way:

• You make sure every alignment is correct;
• Each image is locked to the correct piece of information;
• If some of the text becomes longer the layout adjusts automatically.
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Tip: Use object styles for repetitive layouts
You can use object styles to quickly format various objects in your document, including graphic
frames, text frames, and lines.
You can use them to:

• Define the position of anchored objects (for example, the images we anchored in "Avoid
using different containers" on page 19);
• Formatting an object quickly: in the example below, you could create an object style of the
box on the left, and apply it to the container in the centre to have it formatted in the same way
with just a single click.
As you can see in the image above (inside the pop-up), InDesign even lets you define the size and
position, add auto-sizing options, and also automatically add text formatting (in this case you will
also have to set up the “Next Style” option in the Paragraph Style).
To learn how to create an object style, go to the Adobe InDesign official user guide.
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15) Use indents instead of tabs
If you need to change the space between the margins and where you text starts or ends, you should
use Indents.
Set the indents in your Paragraph Styles from the tab “Indents and Spacing”.
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16) Pay attention to bullet and numbered lists
When creating a bullet or numbered list:
• Do NOT type spaces before each point (to add space between the bullet/number and
the text);
• Do NOT type the bullet/number as a character of your text.
Here are some examples of badly structured numbered lists (on the left) and the correct formatting
(on the right).
Why should you be so concerned with bullet/numbered lists? Because by using InDesign correctly,
you will drastically reduce the amount of adjustments;
To learn how to add bullet points correctly in InDesign, go and read our blog post: How to Add Bullet Points
in InDesign.
y DO NOT type bullet lists manually
k Create bullet lists using paragraph styles
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17) How to deal with list that have icons or special
characters
At times, your lists cannot be created in the standard ways available in the paragraph panel.
For example, you might have to create a list in which each bullet is different (maybe a list of icons
– like the one below).
In similar cases, I suggest that you:

• Add a tab between the icon and the text. This will break the sentence in two parts, the icon in
one part, the text in the other. This way you will be able to control more precisely where your
text starts.
• Otherwise, use anchored images for the icons.
Go to "How to anchor an object" on page 17 to see how to anchor an object.

18) How to deal with chapter and sub-chapter numbers
Use numbered lists to deal with chapters and sub-chapters numbers.
This way, the numbering of chapters and sub-chapters will automatically update, and you’ll be able
to move things around or quickly remove those parts that are not valid for a specific market.
You’ll still create a list, so all the “tips” we discussed when talking about lists still apply in this case
as well.
To learn how to create chapters and sub-chapters with automated numbering, go and read our blog post:
InDesign Numbered List–How to create and use it best.
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19) Avoid graphical elements in paragraphs
When possible, use paragraph style options instead of graphical elements.
By using the paragraph style options:

• Your layout adapts automatically to any text change;
• Your layout is way more precise.
In the example below, the left part uses green shapes to highlight the titles. While on the right part
a paragraph rule is added to the paragraph style.
Another example you can find in this document are the “more information” call outs (similar to the
one you see below “This is an example”):
This is an example.
y AVOID adding graphical elements when possible.
k Use paragraph style options as much as you can.
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20) Use GREPs
A GREP is a formula (an expression) made up of meta-characters that can represent text, conditions or patterns
(repetitions).
When InDesign finds that a condition – expressed in the GREP – is verified, it assigns the attributes
contained in a Character Style.
This change to the formatting is done live when you edit your document in InDesign.
This means that with GREPs your text is formatted correctly (as you wanted) instantly – without
your intervention.
Learn more about GREPs in our blog post: GREP in InDesign–What is it and how to use it
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21) Fix widow words
A widow is a word that remains alone in a line at the end of the paragraph.
When fixing widow words you should avoid using non breaking spaces because:
• It’s a manual job;
• It requires constant fixing.
You can instead use GREPs to fix this issue automatically in every document.
Create a Character Style with the “No Break” option active.
Add this GREP code to your Paragraph Style (?<=\w)\s(?=\w+[[:punct:]]+$) and set the
GREP to assign the No Break Character Style.
From now on, the “No Break” will be applied automatically - LIVE!
Fun fact: the screenshot above is taken from this document.
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22) Try nested styles
Like GREPs, Nested Styles are also applied live to your document.
The change to the formatting is done live when you edit your document in InDesign, and it’s not
stored as a formatting of the text itself.
This means that with Nested Styles:

• Your text is still formatted correctly (as you wanted) – instantly;
• But the text itself is clean. It does NOT contain readable changes at the formatting level, and if
you update the style in your document, the formatting applied by the nested style will be
retained without forcing you to change it manually.
What is a Nested Style?

Nested styles are especially useful for running headings. For example, you can apply one character style to the
first letter in a paragraph and another character style that takes effect through the first colon (:). For each nested
style, you can define a character that ends the style, such as a tab character or the end of a word.
Learn more about Nested Styles in the Adobe Official User Guide.
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23) Create styles quickly
Paragraph Styles are fundamental but sometimes they might be scary, and creating them might
seem complex.
In the next few chapters, I’ll try to help you understand how you can quickly fix your document by
quickly creating and using Paragraph Styles correctly.
Open the “Paragraph Style” panel and activate the “Style Override Highlighter”.
When you see some text highlighted in blue, select part of it, and click on the “+” symbol
at the bottom of the “Paragraph Style” panel.
You’ll see that InDesign has created a new style called “Paragraph Style #”. This is your new
paragraph style and (shout-out to Christelle who pointed this out) you should rename it.
See the next chapter "Use the "Find/Change" to fix your styles" to see how you can quickly
apply this new Paragraph Style to every paragraph that uses the same formatting.
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24) Use the "Find/Change" to fix your styles
One of the things the "Find/Change" function can help with is finding a set of formatting rules
and replacing them throughout your entire document.
You can use this to your advantage and add styles to all your text by following these simple steps:
Open the “Find/Change” by clicking on “Edit” > “Find Change...”.
In the “Find/Change” window, make sure “Find what:” and “Change to:” are empty.
Set “Search” to “Document”.
Click inside “Find Format” and in the pop-up select the formatting you want to find. In
my example, the titles are in “Garamond Premier Pro”, “Bold”, size “20 pt”.
Click inside “Change Format:” and in the pop-up select the Paragraph Style you want to
apply to the text InDesign will find.
Click on “Change All”. InDesign will add the selected Paragraph Style to all the text that
has that formatting and will remove the local overrides.
The difference between using the Find/Change and doing it manually, as one would do from the
Paragraph Panel, is that with the Find/Change you will also remove any local formatting added on
top of the style you are assigning, effectively “cleaning” your text.
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25) Create the styles with a script
In InDesign you can use scripts to automate repetitive/time consuming tasks.
One of these tasks, when you have a document that doesn’t use styles, could be creating all the
Paragraph Styles and assigning them to your text.
Luckily for us, this script already exists and we don’t have to write it ourselves.
As a side note, I generally prefer to fix the styles manually because I like to have full control on each
step of the process, but if you are in a hurry, you might want to know there is also a faster solution.
Let’s see how you can use it:
Open our blog post on InDesign scripts.
Search in the page for the script “Create Paragraph and Character Styles” (by Thomas
Silkjaer) and download it.
Install the script.
See how to install and use an InDesign script from our user guide.
Launch the script.
InDesign will find common formatting in your text, create Paragraph Styles and Character Styles,
and assign them to your text. This means that the script might create duplicates.
You don’t necessarily need to fix these duplicates, but if you want to go the extra mile (and have a
perfect document), delete the duplicates, and InDesign will ask you to indicate a Paragraph Style to
use as a replacement.
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26) Redefine styles and find style changes
In "Remove local formatting" on page 7 we saw how local formatting slows down your workflow
and makes the production of your documents more expensive.
In some cases (like the first title and first sentence in the screenshot below), we cannot even see
where and whether there are changes of style. For this reason, I suggest you to try cleaning up your
document as much as possible and remove all local formatting.
The “Redefine Style” can be a very precious ally to solve this task.
With the “Redefine Style” function, you can override any of the style settings applied to your
paragraph. And by doing that, you will immediately discover potential style changes.
Select part of the text with the local formatting.
In the “Paragraph Styles” panel, click on the top-right icon (the one with 4 lines) and
select “Redefine Style”.
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27) Fix orphan rows
Another typographical issue InDesign users often have to fix is “orphans”.
Orphans are rows that are left alone in a column/page.
Make sure you create your document so that it can fix this issue automatically.
Open your Paragraph Style settings.
Click on “Keep options”.
Activate “Keep Lines Together”, select “At Start/End of Paragraph”.
Change the value in “Start:” and “End:” to “2”. InDesign will automatically fix orphans in
your entire document.
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28) Clean additional spaces/returns/etc.
Before finalizing your document, it is highly suggested that you look for and fix a few common
mistakes that might have been added to the text in your document.
There is a script shipped with InDesign that allows you to do this automatically and clean up the
document quickly (shout out to Anne-Marie Concepción for teaching me this).
The script is called “FindChangeByList.jsx” and it:

1. Finds all multiple spaces and replaces them with single spaces.
2. Finds all spaces preceded by a return and removes the space.
3. Finds all spaces followed by a return and removes the space.
4. Finds all double TAB characters and replaces them with single TAB characters.
5. Finds a TAB character preceded by a return character and removes the TAB character.
6. Finds a TAB character followed by a hard return character and removes the TAB character.
7. Finds all double returns and replaces them with single returns.
8. Finds all space-hyphen-space and replaces with an en dash.
9. Finds all hyphens and replaces them with an em dash without spaces.
To use the script:
Open the “Scripts” panel (“Window” > “Utilities” > “Scripts”.
In the panel, navigate to “Samples” > “JavaScript” and look for “FindChangeByList.jsx”.
Before running it, you should fix the script as described by David Blatner in this post.
Launch the script by double-clicking and fix your document.
There is also another version of this script, created by Mike Witherell, that fixes even more issues
(and is a bit more precise). You can find it here with an explanation of the extra things it does.
redokun.com
29) Take advantage of InDesign preferences
Many of the tips we’ve seen in this document can be set up as default preferences.
That means that every time you create a new document, those settings will already be in place.
I’ll give you an example:
Close all documents (this will allow you to change the software preferences).
Open the “Paragraph Styles” panel and edit the “[Basic Paragraph]”.
For example, you could add the GREP we saw in "Fix widow words" on page 27 or set the
“Keep options” as we saw in "Fix orphan rows" on page 33.
Now, create a new document. You’ll see that the “[Basic Paragraph]” of the new document
will have the settings you have just added.
Go back at the beginning of this guide and see which of the tips I mentioned could
become a default setting and help you save time.
29.1. More about InDesign preferences
Preferences in InDesign can be set up at:

• Software level (default settings): every new document you create will start with those settings;
• Document level: overrides the default settings.
Try these steps to understand how InDesign preferences work:

• Close all documents, and in the Application Bar at the top, change the Font to Helvetica,
Bold, 15pt. Create a new document, add a text-frame and type some text. The new text will be
Helvetica, Bold, 15pt.
• Deselect the text-box and in the Application Bar change the Font to Arial, Bold, 10pt. Create
a new text-box and type some text. The new text will be Arial, Bold, 10pt. Any new text you’ll
type in this document will now be Arial, Bold, 10pt (until you change the settings).
• In case you were wondering, if you now create a new document, the new document will have as
the default text Helvetica, Bold, 15pt.
redokun.com
30) Create a Font to deal with special icons
Imagine this:
• You need to describe to the readers what buttons to press in a controller;
• And you also need to indicate which icon shows up in the display.
How would you do that?
You would probably place a few images inside your text, right?!
If you often use these symbols, you might want to create your custom font. That way, you can save
lots of time because placing a symbol will mean pressing a button (and adding a Character style).
And at the same time, you will help your translator with placing the symbol in the right position.
To learn how to do so, check out this great piece from Steve Caplin.
redokun.com
Thanks for reading!
Do you work on documents that have to be translated?

I created another version of this document that contains:
• All the information you’ll find inside this PDF;
• Additional Tips for those of us who work on documents that will be translated into
more languages.
Download it here!

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30 (practical)

Why should you read this?

These tips will help you:

What’s waiting for you at the end?

 You’ll know how to use InDesign better.

 You’ll work faster in InDesign.

 Producing your documents will take less time.

From time to time, I write for InDesignSecrets and InDesign

Things to know before you start reading

Do you work on documents that have to be translated?

1) Show hidden characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 16) Pay attention to bullet and

6) Check the spelling automatically . . . . 10 20) Use GREPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

7) Don’t use different containers for 21) Fix widow words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

12) Anchor objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 27) Fix orphan rows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

One improperly used hidden character can lead to a mistake.

 Make sure “View” > “Screen Mode” is set to “Normal”.

Not paying attention to this important fact creates a few issues:

y Do NOT use a hard-return: To wrap text.

k Use a hard-return: To create a new paragraph.

Why should you care about it?

 Press Shift + Return on your keyboard.

y Do NOT use a soft-return: between different paragraphs.

k Use a soft-return: To create a new line inside a paragraph.

 Activate the “Style Override Highlighter” by clicking on the “[a+]” icon.

y Do NOT edit the formatting locally.

 Open the “Paragraph Styles” panel.

 Select the text with the stubborn local formatting.

7.1. Control the space between titles and text

y Do NOT use different containers for titles and text.

8.1. Control the space between paragraphs of the same style

y Do NOT use SOFT or HARD returns to add space between paragraphs.

 Make sure title and text are in the same container.

 On your keyboard, press “Fn” + “Return” to place a “Column Break”.

y Don’t resize containers to make the text “jump” to a new column.

k Use a “Column Break” to control where a textual content should start.

y Don’t resize containers to make the text “jump” to a new column.

Anchored objects will ensure that:

Go to "How to anchor an object" on page 17 to see how to anchor an object.

y Avoid placing floating objects/images.

 Select the triangle.

 Unembed Embedded Images

Number 3: is what you should aim for:

k By setting up your layout in this way:

You can use them to:

y DO NOT type bullet lists manually

k Create bullet lists using paragraph styles

In similar cases, I suggest that you:

Go to "How to anchor an object" on page 17 to see how to anchor an object.

By using the paragraph style options:

y AVOID adding graphical elements when possible.

k Use paragraph style options as much as you can.

 Create a Character Style with the “No Break” option active.

Fun fact: the screenshot above is taken from this document.

This means that with Nested Styles:

What is a Nested Style?

 Open the “Find/Change” by clicking on “Edit” > “Find Change...”.

 Set “Search” to “Document”.

Let’s see how you can use it:

 Open our blog post on InDesign scripts.

 Install the script.

 Launch the script.

 Select part of the text with the local formatting.

Orphans are rows that are left alone in a column/page.

You’ll know how to use InDesign better.

You’ll work faster in InDesign.

Producing your documents will take less time.

Make sure “View” > “Screen Mode” is set to “Normal”.

Press Shift + Return on your keyboard.

Activate the “Style Override Highlighter” by clicking on the “[a+]” icon.

Open the “Paragraph Styles” panel.

Select the text with the stubborn local formatting.

Make sure title and text are in the same container.

On your keyboard, press “Fn” + “Return” to place a “Column Break”.

Select the triangle.

Unembed Embedded Images

Create a Character Style with the “No Break” option active.

Open the “Find/Change” by clicking on “Edit” > “Find Change...”.

Set “Search” to “Document”.

Open our blog post on InDesign scripts.

Install the script.

Launch the script.

Select part of the text with the local formatting.

Open your Paragraph Style settings.

Click on “Keep options”.

Activate “Keep Lines Together”, select “At Start/End of Paragraph”.

Open the “Scripts” panel (“Window” > “Utilities” > “Scripts”.

Launch the script by double-clicking and fix your document.