Inspiring

Question

Correct way to create horizontal lines in between certain paragraphs

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
November 27, 2018
5 replies
10501 views

I copied a word doc into InDesign. Looks perfect, last thing I need to do is to insert a grey horizontal line inbetween certain paragraphs. Those did not come over when I placed the word file in the new document. Since this is the first time I have to do this I know I can just use the - key next to the 0 on the keyboard but the orignal line in Word was gray and has an inner style to it, see the screenshot. Need to know how to create that correctly. I know I have to do in paragraph rules and I would think I need to name that rule ? Anyone?

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Oh wait, I’m out of the office now but I think I see the problem with my logic. I’ll try it again when I get back.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

AnneMarie Concepcion

Community Expert

this would make a great post for http://indesignsecrets.com Barb! ;-)

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Well, the idea I had walking out the door didn't pan out, but Jane's idea of combining a rule below with a bottom border works like a charm, on multi-length paragraphs, consecutive or not, no extra hard returns required! Here are the settings:

AnneMarie Concepcion, I'd be happy to write this up for you but since it was jane-e 's idea, maybe she will want to do it.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi Matthew:

the orignal line in Word was gray and has an inner style to it

I concur that the best way to add lines above or below a paragraph is through Paragraph Rules, but note the InDesign does not offer the same shadow that Word rules do. I suspect that a simple gray line will do the trick, but if you are set on the exact same look, you'll need to create it in a graphics application and then add it as an anchored frame.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Peter Kahrel

Community Expert

You can do a shadow (or approximate it) by using two rules, one above and one below, partly overlapping, different shades of grey. You need to twiddle with the offsets until it looks ok. Or an inner style again by two rules, one black and 2 or 3 pts, the other grey and 1 pts, with the grey rule placed on top of the black one.

P.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Grest idea, Peter Kahrel. Can we work through this?

I've got the basic look going when I assign it to multiple consecutive paragraphs:

But not for a single paragraph:

Thinking out loud...what about assigning it to a super tiny ¶ with its own tag?

Not a fan of multiple hard returns but that would work, or do you have a better idea?

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Randy Hagan

Community Expert

I believe you're on the right track for specifying paragraph rules to get the results you want, but I think you could make life much easier on yourself by including a paragraph style with the rule(s) you want to use:

1) Create your paragraph rule(s), selecting the Preview check box to ensure you get the results you want, then ...

2) Click your text tool into the correct paragraph(s), then create a new style (or multiple styles, depending on the number of variations you have), naming them "{paragraph style} with rules" and, if need be, easily recognized variations. Then you can apply them anywhere you want by simply clicking into the paragraph and selecting the correct paragraph style. Create once, repeat many times as necessary.

So it's not so much naming the rule, as it is an appropriate paragraph style to get the result(s) you want.

Peter Kahrel

Community Expert

Use InDesign paragraph rule feature.