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m5heath
Inspiring
November 12, 2024
Answered

Different para marks

  • November 12, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 1300 views

In dumping some text from Word into ID, not a good practice I grant, I noticed some strange differences in the para marks that I have not noticed before. I have done an attached screenshot and annotated the various marks. The usual para mark I see in automatically entered text is the one in the green circle. However some of the para marks are bigger and examples are the red circles. I then noticed that the paras ending with the red circle mark leave slightly more leading before the last line (which of course I don't want).

And then I see there is a third variety in the clue circle.

The para style for all these paras is identical and very vanilla, separating the paras with a 3mm Space After.

I would be grateful for an explanation of the different types, whether I should/could change one for another, and how to correct the 'last line leading' anomaly with the red circles.

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer James Gifford—NitroPress

I just think you haven't scrubbed hard enough. 🙂

 

They all indicate that at the end, Word had different formats for each of these paragraphs. If you step through with the cursor, you might get changes of style or override indicators that give you some clue as to what's going on. In any case, a firm override-removal action and/or forcing the desired ID style on each, fully selected, should get rid of the differences. You really don't want those stealth overrides in there, as they will cause trouble sooner or later.

 

It is sometimes useful to Place a whole Word doc in a working ID document, with full stripping and override and style clearing in effect  — then tidy a little and cut/paste from there. That keeps from polluting your end document and lets you swing a bigger hammer without risking your doc's formatting and styles.

2 replies

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 13, 2024

Hi @m5heath:

 

Here are a few random thoughts/visuals to add to the excellent answers already on this thread:

  • You can triple click a paragraph to select it, if you first disable Triple click to Select a Line in Preferences > Type. (It's one of the first things I do after an update because I never want to select a line).
  • Your leading values are inconsistent in the first screen shot. You can take of this (forever on this version) by enabling Apply Leading to Entire Paragraphs.  
  • Text files routinely carry in overrides into InDesign. I don't bother with a stop in Notepad, I just work with the style highlighter on [+] so that I can see them in cyan (highlighting indicates a character overrides, vertical lines indicate paragraph overrides) and then select all and remove overrides (as per Dave) with the¶* button. Both are in the Paragraph styles panel. (Sometimes the blue vertical lines linger, so I zoom in and out to refresh the screen).

 

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    M
    m5heathAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 13, 2024

    Very good advice Barb - thankyou. I have made those changes to my preferences.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    November 12, 2024

    I thnk you'll find it's a case of text/paragraph overrides, albeit ones that are not visible in the actual text.

     

    Select all the new text and reapply the paragraph style, using Clear Overrides if need be. Or turn on Show Overrides and let the pretty highlighting guide you to all the spots that need cleanup.

     

    Word can embed all sorts of garbage in paragraph ends, and it doesn't show up until you try to apply other formatting or edit paragraphs together.

     

    ETA: clean up the file or selected text in Word before moving it to ID. In this case, select the paragraphs and apply the base style to all of them so that hidden changes and overrides are removed.

    M
    m5heathAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 12, 2024

    Hi James - you have helped me such a lot in the past!

    I usually dump text into Notepad to remove all formatting but this time it was a relatively small amount so I didn't bother - mistake! However I did as you said and there were indeed para overrides which I cleared. That got rid of the 'red circle' para marks, replacing them with the 'blue circle' para marks. There are now a pot pourri of the two types of para marks (green and red circle types) at the end of paras. They both seem to have exactly the same (seemingly correct) effect and I wonder why they are different - there must surely be some difference in function?

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPressCorrect answer
    Legend
    November 12, 2024

    I just think you haven't scrubbed hard enough. 🙂

     

    They all indicate that at the end, Word had different formats for each of these paragraphs. If you step through with the cursor, you might get changes of style or override indicators that give you some clue as to what's going on. In any case, a firm override-removal action and/or forcing the desired ID style on each, fully selected, should get rid of the differences. You really don't want those stealth overrides in there, as they will cause trouble sooner or later.

     

    It is sometimes useful to Place a whole Word doc in a working ID document, with full stripping and override and style clearing in effect  — then tidy a little and cut/paste from there. That keeps from polluting your end document and lets you swing a bigger hammer without risking your doc's formatting and styles.

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