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H
hyx
Participant
January 27, 2020
Answered

First line indent after soft return - any solution?

  • January 27, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 3841 views

I have this 300-page text to lay out, and soft returns are used extensively in the text as a second type of paragraph break. I would like to know if there is a way to automate a first line indent after every soft return. Is there?

 

I know now that Indesign doesn't consider a soft return a paragraph break, and I haven't been able to find a workaround that doesn't involve either (a) indenting manually, or (b) separating the paragraphs manually. As far as I understand the proper way to do it would have been to have only hard returns in the source text, and then to use two different paragraph styles in Indesign.

 

Any suggestions on how to best solve this, given the situation?

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

Hi Hyx:

 

You will need to define two styles. After you remove the line breaks, assign style 1 to all of the body, and then comb through and assign style 2 to the paragraphs that were after the line breaks. You can define a keyboard shortcut for style 2 to speed things up, and while this might seem interminable, it won't take more than an hour or two for 300 pages.

 

Without someone writing a script to automate the process, this is the reality, unless the paragraphs follow a specific pattern of style 1, style 2, style 1, style 2 for the entire document (no deviations). If they do, let us know and we can give you a faster option using Next Style

 

~Barb 

3 replies

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 14, 2023

Although I think it is best done with two styles as Barb suggested, you could add a tab stop to the body paragraph style. When you enter a line break, follow it up with a tab.

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
R
rubenlourens
Participating Frequently
August 14, 2023

Yes this is sort of the only thing I can do. Starting it with a tab. It is ugly but it can be used by the writer. It is just that if I update the file the work after is less as possible. 

thanks

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 14, 2023

I think I do 😉 it's oke. I just like to push the limits of automatisation. Al lot of books also start with indent were I want it to have no intent. For now I just ask the writer to use a tab that I can controle.

 

thanks for now. 


You are correct--it's not uncommon for the first paragraph not to be indented. This is typically done with two paragraph styles, with the based-on and next-paragraph settings adjusted for maximum efficiency.

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 27, 2020

Hi Hyx:

 

You will need to define two styles. After you remove the line breaks, assign style 1 to all of the body, and then comb through and assign style 2 to the paragraphs that were after the line breaks. You can define a keyboard shortcut for style 2 to speed things up, and while this might seem interminable, it won't take more than an hour or two for 300 pages.

 

Without someone writing a script to automate the process, this is the reality, unless the paragraphs follow a specific pattern of style 1, style 2, style 1, style 2 for the entire document (no deviations). If they do, let us know and we can give you a faster option using Next Style

 

~Barb 

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
vladan saveljic
vladan saveljic
Inspiring
January 27, 2020

For example, it could be done in 2 steps in this way (try in a copy of your file first)

First step:

Grep

Find:

\n

Change

\r££

(££ is a combination of the two symbols that are probably not present in your file. You can choose other symbol or combination)

 

Second step:

Find

(^££)(.+$)

Change

$2

format: your paragraph style with indent

    H
    hyxAuthor
    Participant
    January 29, 2020

    vladan - thanks for your suggestion, I will definitely give that a go. 😃

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 27, 2020

    No, you can't define a first line indent after a soft return/line break—it only works for hard returns. 

     

    You can quickly remove the line breaks and change them to hard returns:

    1. Edit > Find/Change > Text
    2. Find: ^n
      Change: ^p

     

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    H
    hyxAuthor
    Participant
    January 27, 2020

    Thanks for confirming that, Barb. And would there be a way of some sort to isolate the original hard returns so I could differentiate between the two after performing the Find-Change?

    H
    hyxAuthor
    Participant
    January 27, 2020

    because otherwise, as far as I understand, as soon as I change the soft breaks to hard ones, all the paragraphs will look exactly the same, and I can't do that for this document.

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