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michaelt94901112
Inspiring
July 27, 2017
Answered

Customizing the Command-I (Italic) Keyboard Shortcut

  • July 27, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 3329 views

I'm working on a book and have to repeatedly access the Italic menu manually because the Command-I keyboard shortcut chooses the first Italic font on the menu, which is Light Italic. I have searched the internet high and low and it appears that no one has ever figured out how to make InDesign change to the standard Italic font when pressing Command-I.

Anyone have a workaround for this issue? I can't believe that many of you are not running into the same challenge.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer michaelt94901112

Because InDesign does not allow you to assign a keyboard shortcut to character styles unless you have a numeric keypad, which I don't, here are two workable solutions:

Command-Enter

Enter Command-Enter/Return and then type the first few letters of, in my case, the Italic character style. This technique was fast but not fast enough for me.

Create a Script and Assign Keyboard Shortcut

Create this script in a plain text file:

app.selection[0].appliedCharacterStyle='Italic';

Save As…

Italic.jsx

Then use Keyboard Shortcuts… to assign Command-I to it (after deleting this shortcut from rarely used Spelling menu item).

3 replies

M
michaelt94901112AuthorCorrect answer
Inspiring
July 28, 2017

Because InDesign does not allow you to assign a keyboard shortcut to character styles unless you have a numeric keypad, which I don't, here are two workable solutions:

Command-Enter

Enter Command-Enter/Return and then type the first few letters of, in my case, the Italic character style. This technique was fast but not fast enough for me.

Create a Script and Assign Keyboard Shortcut

Create this script in a plain text file:

app.selection[0].appliedCharacterStyle='Italic';

Save As…

Italic.jsx

Then use Keyboard Shortcuts… to assign Command-I to it (after deleting this shortcut from rarely used Spelling menu item).

Bill Silbert
Community Expert
Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 27, 2017

The keyboard command for italics is Shift-Command-i. My tests with in InDesign CC 2017 showed that it will change the Roman version of the font to the same weight italic. Command-i activates the Spell Check feature.

    M
    michaelt94901112Author
    Inspiring
    July 28, 2017

    Sorry, Shift-Command I is correct, should have known that. However, when using Open Sans regular as the body typeface, it will apply Open Sans Light Italic in all my documents, so don't know why my application varies from yours.

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Steve WernerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 28, 2017

    Cmd+Shift+I doesn't always produce what you expect. The font designer creates font association tables (I recall that's what they're called). Sometimes you'll get something unexpected. There is no way to change it (unless you have a font editor) because it's baked into the font.

    Mike Witherell
    Community Expert
    Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 27, 2017

    If you are working on a book, then you really must use paragraph styles and character styles. Make a character style for the italic attribute. Give it a shortcut if you want. If you edit your shortcuts, you can even remap the cmd+i to your new character style.

    Mike Witherell
      M
      michaelt94901112Author
      Inspiring
      July 28, 2017

      Thanks for that tip. I will use that from now on!

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