How to Remove Minion Font as the Default in InDesign

Standing orders within the dominion of InDesign: arrest and destroy Normal paragraph style whenever seen! I treat Normal like crabgrass in my front yard.

I'd like to acknowledge Scott's objection to my answer. Perhaps I should have answered more fully, like this:

With no documents open, go to a workspace in order to access Paragraph Styles panel. 

Right-click and edit/open Basic Paragraph Style. Change the Minion there to something you wish and like. OK.

Thereafter, new documents will not default to Minion, but rather to your chosen favorite typeface.

AND... What else does a seasoned user of InDesign also do?

I have learned to never make a style based on Basic Paragraph Style. We should tend to make the style based on No Paragraph Style, as many of you have observed. That is what I do. All my documents stick strongly to the practice of cleanly-applied paragraph styles.

It seems contradictory to say never make a paragraph style based on Basic Paragraph Style, since any new style is going to begin as a duplicate of Basic Paragraph Style (unless you have a type tool in text). I often describe it as the "seed corn" to grow a new style. Done properly, a new paragraph style will start as a dupe of Basic Paragraph Style. Add to it your specific attributes that you need. Just make sure the Based On says No Paragraph Style, or some other nearly-identical style. Approached this way, I don't worry too much about copy n pasting chunks of stuff between documents. I frequently inspect my paragraph styles for conformity.

Hi @carolineh76238118 , As others have suggested, you can change the default font used for a new text frame or document, but keep in mind MinionPro Regular is the font used for the base [No Paragraph Style], and the root Paragraph Style can’t be changed via the UI:

It’s also one of InDesign’s required fonts—you can remove it from your system font folders, but it has to be left in:

‎⁨Startup⁩ ▸ ⁨Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 202X⁩ ▸ ⁨Resources⁩ ▸ ⁨Required⁩ ▸ ⁨fonts⁩

MinionPro it will always be available in the font menus.

With no document open, edit the [Basic Paragraph] style. Don't edit the Character panel.

This will affect only new documents--existing documents need to be updated one at a time.

Hi @carolineh76238118,

Thanks for reaching out, and I can understand how frustrating it must be to have Minion persist like this! Let's see if we can solve it together.

Could you please share which version of InDesign you’re using and the details of your operating system? This will help in identifying any potential version-specific issues.

As for the font sticking around, it’s possible that the default font settings are still pointing to Minion. Please try the below suggestions: 

1. Set a New Default Font: With no documents open, change the font in the Character panel. This will set the new default for future documents.
2. Paragraph and Character Styles: Check if there are any styles applied to the text that are still using Minion. You may need to update or remove those styles.
3. Preferences Reset: If you haven't already, try resetting InDesign preferences (hold Shift+Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Command+Option+Ctrl (Mac) while launching InDesign). Reference:Set preferences in Adobe InDesign

Let me know if this helps, and feel free to reach out if you need further assistance!

Thank you, 

Abhishek Rao