Aligning Words onto Lines in Adobe InDesign CC

[darby_oswald]

I'm wondering if someone can help me with an issue I started having with the align tool. I'm making my own personal planner, and I need to align the days to the lines on the page (i.e. Monday, Tuesday... etc. repeating throughout the month) vertically. Each month is a master page, and on the first three master pages, this wasn't an issue; but it was my first time using the align tool and I think I was just lucky.

Now, when I do the exact same thing I've done for the first three months in my document, nothing happens. I have the words outlined, ungrouped, and highlighted. I need these to be separated evenly on top of the lines. I have a screen shot below that I hope you can see. There are 31 lines evenly aligned within the space I have, and again, I do not know how I got this to work for either the lines themselves or the days on top of the lines in the previous three months.

I don't know if I need to be aligning to selection, or to key object, or what -- and I've tried both highlighting and locking the lines when attempting to distribute the days. Neither is working.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[Scott Falkner]

Truly I do not understand your problem or your workflow. Why have you converted text to paths, for example? Why have you not used leading to evenly control the space between lines? You mentioned that each month is a master page. Why? You mentioned using the align tool. I know of no such tool. There is an Align panel and Align commands in the Control bar, but no Align tool.

So slow down, and be thorough. Tell us precisely what you are doing and what you are trying to accomplish. Show us the desired result and the actual (undesired) result.

[darby_oswald]

Hello Scott,

You asked me to "slow down" for some reason, so I've made sure that this post reads a little easier for you. Now, it's lengthier as I've attempted to answer ALL your questions, even the ones that are not relevant to the issue. See below, and thank you for taking the time to reach out with your guidance. This is not my forte, as we all have our niches. There is nothing wrong with that, and that's why I'm here. If there is a better "tool" (or, should I say "panel"), that I can be using for this task, PLEASE feel free to let me know. We can't be geniuses about everything, can we? Again, that's why I'm here.

The problem, as I explained:

I want my dates to be lined up evenly on the lines that are already perfectly spaced vertically. I used the align "panel" to distribute these evenly on my page. They're all set. I need the days "Monday" - "Sunday" to be distributed evenly ON these lines. I would outline the words, highlight them, and adjust with the options in the align "panel". (Scott, no one's life is on the line if this is incorrect -- simply let me know and I won't waste my time with outlined text anymore). I BELIEVE that, when it worked properly, I selected "align left edges", "distribute bottom edges" and I unfortunately cannot remember if I selected "align to key object" or what. Whatever I did, I did it right three times, and the same settings won't work a fourth time. Clearly it was luck.

To break it down even more, I have lines. They're evenly spaced. I have words, as well. They're not evenly spaced on these lines. I want them to be. I managed to get them evenly spaced on the lines three times, without really knowing how in all honesty. I cannot get them to do it a fourth time.

Answers to your questions:

1. How I'm choosing to arrange my master pages is not relevant -- I have reasons for doing it this way that will be important at the end of the process. Let's not waste time on things that aren't necessary, and remain on topic. I'm not asking for guidance about the master page set-up, or for my "workflow" and will continue to do it this way for the aforementioned, unspecified reasons.

2. I hope that you weren't too confused by what I meant when I said "tool" instead of "panel" -- the others seemed to know what I meant by that, but since you took the time to point out my error regardless of the fact there is no "tool" I'm assuming this was some cause for confusion. To clarify, I'm talking about the "panel" that is labeled "align". I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you're still lost.

3. The answer to "why" I'm outlining text is because I was under the impression (due to my Google searches) that it needed to be an object and not editable text in order to distribute/align/arrange (hopefully I'm using the proper terms!) the words on the lines. If this is not the case, all I ask is that you tell me considerately and professionally. I'm here because I know, obviously, I'm doing things incorrectly. This is not lost on me.

4. I did show you the desired result. I can see the screen shot that I posted as it was approved by a moderator, but I'm concerned that maybe the community cannot. Please let me know if this is the case. As far as showing you the error, it's simple: it's not working. I would love to upload a video of me going through the steps, but unfortunately that's not an option. Aside from that, I'm not sure how showing you nothing would help you. The actual result is that nothing happens, which is why I'm here. Hope this helps.

I hope this post seems more educated and detailed for you to feel that you have enough information to respond. Hopefully I called everything by its right name -- let me know if you're still not getting it and we can go from there.

[Sjaani]

Place your lines with an additional line at the top and bottom of the page if necessary.
Choose Align to Selection and the lines will be distributed evenly down the page when you then choose Distribute Vertical Centres.

You can then do the same thing with your dates, also selecting the additional lines at the top and bottom of the page.
You can then move them as a group to the point where you want them.

If you're using a Master Page you can set this up with generic text. So you only need to set it up once.

Then on your editable pages you can select to override the master page text and fill in the dates as required.

[darby_oswald]

Thanks so much for the insight. I, for some reason, was thinking that it had to be outlined and couldn't be editable text for this to work. I will give that a try.

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

I would approach it this way:

• type text in one frame
• format with "paragraph rules" > ruling line below for each line
• type a day > press tab key > insert triangle > insert fixed space (em or en) > type number;
  and set tab, of course
• use leading or space below to space the lines of text