Disable hyphenation by default?

[alexh43626177]

Hi all.

I'd like indesign to NEVER hyphenate a word for me. It seems I'm having to uncheck the hyphenation box for every text box.

I've tried turning hyphenation off and closing / quitting. When I start a new file it's checked again.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

[david milgrim]

As soon as you close all docs, I no longer have access to the palettes. 

[littletinyfish]

You should still have access to the menu bar. Select Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph menu and this should pop the palletes back in. You should be able to make changes to the defaults without an open document from there.

[Eric23946179whay]

100% correct. Ive been trying to say the exact same thing! Once all documents are closed....we have no access even when using the menu bar - "Select Window > Type & Tables > Paragrah. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You can still use the Window menu to switch to your workspace. Then the panels will appear as usual.

One way to avoid editing the Basic Paragraph is to create a new paragraph style with no document open (I simply call mine Body). Leave the Basic Paragraph style alone and edit the Body style--then treat it as the Basic Para. replacement. Note that when you make or change settings with no document open, it affects all new documents--not existing ones.

Also, consider restricting the hyphenation settings rather than turning them off completely. For example:

[Cheryl Neri]

I heartily disagee with Manan. If you can turn something off, you can always turn it back on. Too bad I've tried to disable it as well to no avail. It's annoying. It slows me down. I have been in the biz successfully for nearly 40 years and have never utilized hyphenation. I sure wish Adobe would make it so we could turn it off permanently.

[Eric23946179whay]

Any updates on this? Please do not respond with a paragraph of irrelevant information like the last "correct answer" and please do not respond with "close all your documents" then uncheck the hyphen box because the hyphen box is inaccessible when in fact we close all the documents. 

[jmlevy]

[…] the hyphen box is inaccessible when in fact we close all the documents.

This is absolutely untrue…

[Eric23946179whay]

Absolutely is true sir. Stop the arguments please. 

Check out my screenshots sir....posted two of them where it shows the screenshot where the options are greyed out after closing all documents. It is a fact that will all documents closed.......my boxes are greyed out and unaccessible.

Show me where it works please good sir! I could certainly use your help. Provide screenshots so we can actually follow your progress in this area!

[Eric23946179whay]

Just to make it easier for you.....il post it again in your thread!

As you can see......all documents are closed....and all options get greyed out! Thank you!

[Eric23946179whay]

Just to be clear.....we are not talking about InDesign. We are talking about Adobe Illustrator. 

[rob day]

Here are the compiled hyphenation off scripts for both ID and AI:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/48e76755-5be4-4d07-752e-ed90bcc8e951

To install in Illustrator:

Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe Illustrator 20XX ▸ ⁨Presets⁩ ▸ ⁨en_US⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩

InDesign:

Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 20XX⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts Panel⁩

[rob day]

I think it’s worth clarifying that in both InDesign and Illustrator, hyphenation is a paragraph property—it can’t be set as an application or document property. You can turn it off in a Paragraph Style definition, but that would not affect an overridden paragraph or a paragraph with no style applied.

Document hyphenation is scriptable—this InDesign script would turn off hyphenation for all of the active document’s text and styles. The same could be done for Illustrator:

//turn off hyphenation in active InDesign document
var d = app.activeDocument;
var ps = d.allParagraphStyles;
var s = d.stories;
var t;
    
for (var i = 1; i < ps.length; i++){
    ps[i].hyphenation = false;
};   

for (var k = 0; k < s.length; k++){
    s[k].hyphenation = false;
    if (s[k].tables.length > 0) {
        t = s[k].tables;
        for (var l = 0; l < t.length; l++){
            t[l].cells.everyItem().paragraphs.everyItem().hyphenation = false;
        };   
    } 
}; 

This should work for Illustrator:

//turn off hyphenation in active Illustrator document
var d = app.activeDocument;
var ps = d.paragraphStyles;
var s = d.stories;
var sp;

for (var i = 1; i < ps.length; i++){
    ps[i].paragraphAttributes.hyphenation = false;
};   

for (var j = 0; j < s.length; j++){
    sp = s[j].paragraphs;
    for (var k = 0; k < sp.length; k++){
        sp[k].paragraphAttributes.hyphenation = false;
    };   
}; 

[Thom Coverly · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can turn off hyphenation so that the box is unchecked for every new text box. 
Screenshots at end…

1. If you haven't already, in Preferences > General, uncheck Show Home Screen When No Documents Are Open. (You can turn this back on later if you use its features.)
2. With no documents open, use CMD+OPT+T to open the Paragraph panel. (Alternatively, find it in Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph, OR type "paragraph" in the Help menu search field to jump to that menu item.)
3. Uncheck the Hyphenate option. 
Hyphenation is now off by default for all new text boxes and will "stick" when you close InDesign and restart.
Instructions applicable for InDesign 2023 and 2024.

[Chryzs]

Just set hyphenation options to unreasonnable numbers...

I set to
Words longerThan: 25 letters
After first: 15 letters

before last: 15 letters

Then it stopped forever!

[jmlevy]

I wonder why you don't simply untick the hyphenation chekbox.

[Cheryl Neri]

Probably the same reason why I'm wondering why you didn't think I'd already tried that.

[Cheryl Neri]

Thank you. That's genius!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Thank you. That's genius!

By @Cheryl Neri

It's not genius - it's just waste of processing power - InDesign will have to waste time doing math that is completely unnecessary.

Same as adding bunch of GREP Styles - that should be rather done as normal Find&Change operations. 

[rob day]

Hi @alexh43626177 , your capture is from Illustrator, this is the InDesign forum. For both apps, the Hyphenation Settings and Hypenation checkbox are properties of a paragraph, so using Hyphenation Settings to limit hyphens doesn’t change anything—you would still have to apply the setting to every paragraph of every story, every table cell, and every paragraph style. You can see that changing the setting has no affect here because no text is selected: