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MarkGilvey
MarkGilvey
Inspiring
February 4, 2019
Answered

Disappearing Copy on "No Break" Style

  • February 4, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 3991 views

I'm in the process of setting up a GREP to eliminate widows and orphans. One of the steps says to set up a Character Style for the body text where the "No Break" is enabled. When I do this, all my text disappears accept for maybe the first line.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Barb Binder

    That's great, Mark.

    And the color is just so that you can see what is going on. Once you know it is working as expected, you can turn the color back off on your No Break character style.

    By the way, my GREP string will keep the last two words together, whereas yours keeps the last 10 characters together.

    \w+\s\w+[[:punct:]]+$

    vs

    .{10}$

    Just as a heads up, that will result in a single word on its own line in some situations. As long as that is OK, you are good to go!

    ~Barb

    2 replies

    Mike Witherell
    Community Expert
    Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 4, 2019

    Widows and orphans are handled in the Keep Options of the paragraph style. Set the Keep Lines Together to 2 and you have a simple solution to preventing widows/orphans.

    If, on the other hand, you dislike short runt lines, in general, than either of your GREP solutions that apply the No Break command will help.

    Mike Witherell
      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 4, 2019

      Hi Mark:

      We can help you with this but need a little more information.

      Can you show us a screen shot for your GREP Style in your Body text style, similar to mine, below?

      And I find it helpful to add a color (temporarily) to my character style so that I can see exactly which letters are being assigned the No Break. If you look at Edit > Edit in Story Editor the text is still there, right? I'm guessing you are signing the No Break style to more characters than you think.

      For example, this applies my No Break style to the last two words in a paragraph.

      ~Barb

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
      eglinski
      eglinski
      Inspiring
      July 26, 2023

      I have seen two forum posts on No Break causing text to disappear (pushing it offset) while trying to setup a No Break–GREP rule, and neither of your posts, both of which are marked as answers, helps prevent the text from disappearing in my case. Is it because I have text split across multiple text boxes?

        J
        Johanna98A7
        Participant
        January 25, 2024

        Disregard, I figured it out. The No Break rule I created was applied to a previous style, so all text, rather jsut a rule by itself applied to no body of text, that the GREP rule could reference alone.


        Can you perhaps send screenshots? I'm in the process of solving the issue on my side but don't manage.. Thanks!

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