How do I stop indented text in threaded text box from floating at the top of a page?

[carold24757508]

I'm doing layout on a book. Some of the paragraph styles are indented. When the text flows from page to page, the text at the top of a new page will create a hanging indent. If I move the text box down from the guide, the text will format according to its style. If I drag it back to the guide it pops left again.

How do I stop this? I have a 700 page book with more than 40 instances of this.

[Barb Binder]

Hi Carol:

Should that paragraph have a hanging indent, or not? No hanging indent, right? It just appears when the paragraph is at the top of the page? And what version of InDesign are you using? Those brackets indicate that the text is tagged for XML?

Finally, can you share a screen shot of the paragraph the way you want it to look with Type > Hidden Characters showing?

~Barb

[carold24757508]

Hi Barb,

I'm CC 2017. You are correct, the text is tagged for XML. Sometimes the error is evident in InDesign, sometimes it only shows when I export to PDF. This isn't the first time I've experienced this, although I can't say if the others were always XML.

[Barb Binder]

I couldn't recreate it in CC 2019. Let me go try in 2017. And to confirm, there is a ¶ on the bottom of the previous page before Prompt treatment...? Prompt treatment is the beginning of a new paragraph?

~Barb

[carold24757508]

Yes. Although that doesn't have to be the case. I have paragraphs that run between pages that will also do this.

[Barb Binder]

Hi Carol:

No luck in CC 2017:

Can put your cursor in that paragraph and show the Paragraph view of the Control panel?

~Barb

[carold24757508]

Hi Barb,

Here is a sample of a paragraph continuing from the previous page.

[Barb Binder]

Hi Carol:

I'm looking for a user error (as opposed to a bug) and I'm not seeing one. I'm happy to look at a few pages of your file if you feel comfortable sharing it. You could save a copy and delete most of the pages before and after one of these paragraphs, but keep the page directly before it along with the page with the paragraph. You can put it on dropbox and post a link here (public) or hover over my name above and message me directly (private).

~Barb

[carold24757508]

Hi Barb,

Your comment about a user error got me thinking. I have been running low on disk space on my computer and wonder if this is causing the problem. From what I can remember, these problems arise when I am working on larger projects.

I've cleared space and updated to CC 2019 and will give it another day and see if that solves the problem.

I wish I had a way to upload my video, just so you can see it in action.

Thanks for your help. I'll update this thread in a day or so.

[Chad Chelius]

I can't see low disk space causing a problem like this. As Barb mentioned, I'd love to take a look at the file. If you could share it via a DropBox, Google Drive, or Creative Cloud link, that would allow us to dive in and possible figure out the problem for you. I'm curious as heck now!

[Barb Binder]

Hi Carol:

I'm not sure a video would help us—we can see from your screen shots what is happening. Looking at your file may provide the missing link, but I understand if you don't want to share it.

~Barb

[carold24757508]

Hi there,

I am checking with my client if I can share an InDesign file. It may take a few days to respond.

Thanks for your interest.

Carol

[carold24757508]

Hi there,

I think I mentioned it before, but this is just happened. My InDesign file looks fine, but the PDF of the page has the hanging indent.

Carol

[carold24757508]

So, despite updating InDesign to 2019 and clearing space, this continues to be a problem.

I'm including here a 4-page file and a sample of the PDF from the larger original file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/we70szfjo2jaet8/Dragich_Test.indd?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bnq12rvhgtpbec3/Dragich_Test.pdf?dl=0

[Barb Binder]

Hi Carol:

I still can't recreate this issue by resizing from the top of the frame and I don't see any weird characters or formatting.

I wonder if there is an issue with your preferences/cache files on your workstation. Do you have another workstation you can open the file on to test?

The next thing I'm going to recommend is that you delete your cache. What operating system are you on? I will send instructions.

~Barb

[carold24757508]

Hi Barb,

I'm on Mojave 10.14.2

I don't have access to another workstation.

Carol

[Barb Binder]

Ok, Carol, then on your Mac:

• Close InDesign
• Open a Finder window
• Open the Go menu and press the Option key—Library will appear in the menu between Home and Computer.
• Click on Library to open the Library folder
• Open the Preferences folder
• Locate and delete the folder called “Adobe InDesign” and the file called “com.adobe.InDesign.plist” (If this makes you nervous, just move both to your desktop—you can always close InDesign and drag them back.)
  
  
• Restart InDesign
• The folder and file will regenerate after you relaunch InDesign

Let us know if this takes care of the issue.

~Barb

[rob day]

I'm not seeing the problem with CC2018. I opened the (converted) ID file and exported to PDF/X-4 and it was OK.

My export to PDF/X-4 on the right

For such a simple layout there is a fair amount of complexity with all the style sheets and XML tags (most of the Paragraph and Character Styles are unused). You could try troubleshooting the XML by untagging everything on a copy of the doc. From the Structure panel select all of the elements and choose Untag Element from the panel menu. That will remove the XML without deleting the content.

If deleting your prefs doesn't help, also try deleting your Caches folder:

/Users/username/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version X

[grudgemom]

Looks like this issue is being duplicated in this current thread from today: Hanging text loses indent when paragraph flows to next page or column