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smasonMedIQ
Participant
May 22, 2019
Question

Soft Line Break key enters Page Break instead

  • May 22, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1725 views

For as long as I've used InDesign, shift+return has been a soft line break. It still is on my work computer, a PC laptop. On my mac at home though, it shift+return enters a page break. The only way I can figure out how to do soft line breaks is to do a funky combination like "++" find and replace it with a soft line break, and then copy and paste them from there on out.

Is there a way to correct this?

    2 replies

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 22, 2019

    Hi smasonMedIQ ,

    what's your keyboard on the Mac?

    Has it a number pad?

    Perhaps this num pad is set to the Number mode and then a Shift + Enter ( on the num pad ) will indeed return a Frame Break special character ( SpecialCharacters.FRAME_BREAK ).

    Regards,
    Uwe

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 22, 2019

    Hi smason,

    Adding a bit to what Uwe said, a Mac has Return on the regular part of the keyboard and Enter on the Numeric part of the keyboard. They do not do the same thing, so check to see which you are using.

    Shift+Return is a line break. Shift+Enter is a frame break. 

    ~ Jane

    A
    anoure_7327
    Participant
    June 18, 2025

    I have an HP Zbook and working in Adobe InDesign. There is only an enter key there is no longer return key. I keep getting column breaks and frame breaks when I simply want copy text to be directly under a subhead and need a soft return. I am frustrated! Is anyone using a PC with only an Enter key?

     

     

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 22, 2019

    This should not be happening. Regardless of what version of InDesign you're using the key combination you've mentioned should create a soft return.

    Try trashing preferences. To do so on a Mac:

    The User Library folder in which InDesign’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that InDesign is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N). With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe InDesign” and the file called “com.adobe.InDesign.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When InDesign is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

    The advantage of manually deleting preference files in this manner is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

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