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watermelon5
watermelon5
Inspiring
September 26, 2018
Answered

Removing white space before a character in text field.

  • September 26, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 3939 views

As the title says: How can I remove the white space before a character in a text field so that it aligns flushed with the text frame.

And no, it is not just a font creator thing that can't be changed. There's a hack not involving scripts or outlining text. I've done it before, I just forgot.


I tried using Story for optical alignment, but it is not doing it for me. I think it may have something to do with negative margins.

If you remember the hack, please share.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer watermelon5

    Nevermind. I figured it out.

    1. Place a space before the character.
    2. Select the empty space.
    3. Option+back arrow to track negative numbers.

    Don't know why it was tough looking this one up. I would have thought it was a common question. I've been Googling for an hour only to get old non-results from the InDesign Secrets website or people claiming it can't be done in forums.

    I'll leave this up in case someone is looking up a more updated discussion.

    EDIT: Obviously, this will not work on large chunks of text unless you hack it by adding a space before in every line of a paragraph. Not recommended, lol! In this case, use Story align instead.

    1 reply

    watermelon5
    watermelon5AuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    September 26, 2018

    Nevermind. I figured it out.

    1. Place a space before the character.
    2. Select the empty space.
    3. Option+back arrow to track negative numbers.

    Don't know why it was tough looking this one up. I would have thought it was a common question. I've been Googling for an hour only to get old non-results from the InDesign Secrets website or people claiming it can't be done in forums.

    I'll leave this up in case someone is looking up a more updated discussion.

    EDIT: Obviously, this will not work on large chunks of text unless you hack it by adding a space before in every line of a paragraph. Not recommended, lol! In this case, use Story align instead.

      B
      benr91453177
      Participant
      September 26, 2018

      I use this all the time for when I've got a story starting with a drop cap (first letter) and the story begins with a quote. Apply drop cap to first 3 characters (thin space, open quote mark, first letter) and negative track to hang the quote.

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