Align numbers in a numbered list (was "numbers alinged")

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
July 8, 2024
4 replies
1117 views

how can I get the words after '10' aligned?

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Barb Binder

Community Expert

Well, I'm a menace behind a keyboard pre-coffee. I first expained how to do it in FrameMaker (leading tab), and then posted the link to handle it in InDesign.

Joel, is there a R-to-L equivalent of this process in InDesign?

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Ha! Well, I question your posts only with the greatest caution, but I've tripped over that "use two tabs" advice in too many places where the posters didn't seem to realize it doesn't work (in ID).

So, there does seem to be a solution in RTL, but in LTR, any numbered list that crosses from 9 to 10 needs some kind of manually-adjusted workaround, multiple styles, or borderline hack to work — right? I'm not missing anything here?

And while Joel seems to have gotten good results from the positioning option, I find it so awkward (in LTR, at least) that I can't quite figure out what it's supposed to be doing, in any useful sense.

All so weird. Most shortcomings in ID are sort of obvious as to cause or functional choice or limitation; this glitch just seems to have fallen through a very big crack in operational concept.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

In L-to-R text, we put a tab on both sides of the auto-number, and then set two tab stops: the first is decimal- or right-aligned, the second is left aligned. I haven't had my coffee yet, so can't quite articulate this for R-to-Left text, but it will be the same concept. 😉 I'll get my coffee and swing back in case you need clarification.

See https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-aligning-punctuation-in-numbered-lists/.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Actually, Barb, that won't work unless I'm missing something. ID doesn't allow a tab as a the first character in a numbering string. This is a perennial annoyance for me.

The only good way to align numbering I can find is to use en-spaces for the (definitions of the) single-digit items.

I find it interesting/perplexing that the "number alignment" setting only kinda-sorta addresses this. It seems as if aligning the numbers to the right would produce that square alignment, but it only sort of halfway changes the single-digit position—

"Left"

"Right"

I've never found any very good use for this alignment setting, since most results you actually want need that trickery in the numbering setup and spacing/tab settings.