How to get "rule above paragraph" to stay within text frame

[OsakaWebbie]

The composite image below is almost self-explanatory. I am finalizing the design of a people directory that uses tagged text generated from a database to automatically assign paragraph styles when placed. To delineate a new letter of the alphabet, I use a paragraph style with extra spacing and a "rule above" as shown here. It works great when the new letter hits in the middle of a column (green circle), but if it hits at the top of a column (red circle), the rule is in the margin. I understand why that's happening ("space before" is ignored at the top of text frames, which is normally good), but is there something I can do in the paragraph style settings to force the content down so the rule is at the top of the frame instead of floating where it shouldn't be? Yes, I know I can manually lower the top of the frame after placing the text, and I'll do that if necessary. But it would be nice if it just worked, so that there are no overrides in the parent page's text frames that would need fixing after placing freshly updated tagged text, which would no doubt have such rules in different places.

It would probably look a little better if the rule was at the bottom of columns instead of the top when the letter change happens at a column break, but that would require significantly more cleverness in the code that creates the tagged text, because the code would need to look ahead and see what the next name is, not just remember the previous one. And even if I did that, I'd still have this layout problem in InDesign, because the "rule below" would be in the bottom margin.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Check the "Keep in Frame" box in the rule definition menu:

You can only get the varying rule/border behavior you're seeking by using multiple styles and applying them locally. InDesign's rule/border formatting is flexible in many ways, but it can't outguess the content or (for the most part) its position on the page.

[OsakaWebbie]

Wow, that was easy! I didn't see that checkbox, and I must have been using all the wrong search words when trying to find the answer myself. I'm not sure what your second paragraph is about (I didn't ask for varying rule/border behavior - consistency is good), but that checkbox was the key I was looking for. Thanks!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Your description seemed to be seeking a more flexible/adaptable mode for the separator bar; my comments were addressing that, and that it can't really be done unless you use different styles for each situation. But if simply keeping the separator bar in the frame when it falls at the top meets your needs.... great!

(And FWIW, that check box, like many, is not as entirely clear or properly associated as it might be. You just have to "know" what it does. Now you do.)