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Ken Nielsen
Ken Nielsen
Legend
May 3, 2015
Answered

How do I adjust spacing between paragraphs in InDesign?

  • May 3, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 93117 views

I remember older versions of InDesign simply having an adjustment that would regulate the amount of space before or after a paragraph. What this did is just accept the return key as an end of paragraph and give the setting you choose, similar to setting line spacing and it was that easy. I see no icon showing setting the paragraph spacing in InDesign now, even a search on paragraph spacing has many tangent and complicated theories but nothing direct and simple. Is there a way to do this simply in newer versions of InDesign?

    Correct answer smoothsea

    Malcom, Thank You for going to the effort to show that screen shot, before I go about setting up paragraph styles, I want to see what was missing in my InDesign. As you can see, you have a lot more going with your panel at the top of the page. Something is not checked or included, but when I click on the far right icon I do not see which choice I should make to include the full set of choices you have showing. Here is my 'top of screen' panel...


    Hi Ken,

    On the very left of your screenshot, you can see two icons - paragraph and character. At the moment, the character one is selected, so your control panel is showing options for that. If you click the paragraph icon below it, you will find the spacing controls that you want. It could be that you have a smaller screen that I do, because mine shows both character and paragraph options all the time.

    Do pay attention though to paragraph styles. You can format your paragraphs using the control panel, select some of your paragraph text and then make a new paragraph style based on the selection. I know that we all go on about styles, and they might take a bit of getting used to, but they will save you heaps of time in the long run.

    Good luck,

    Malcolm

    1 reply

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 3, 2015

    You set the spacing under Indents and Spacing in Paragraph style options.

    You can do it in the Control Panel, but you should always use paragraph styles, even for a small amount of text - it will save you a lot of work when you want to change something.

      Ken Nielsen
      Ken NielsenAuthor
      Legend
      May 3, 2015

      I am so lost with this. I see a control panel across the top of the screen which shows various paragraph controls, indent, first line offset, etc... but nothing that shows spacing before and after the paragraph, I could not find this in styles either. I am missing something that is probably so obvious here, but am lost at this point.

      S
      smoothsea
      Inspiring
      May 3, 2015

      Hi Ken,

      Your space before and after options are located here, but as Per Bernsten pointed out, you should be using paragraph stylesin which case you should find it here.

      Regards,

      Malcolm

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