InDesign adds automatically a space within a number

[Oraceomio]

In a text I neeed to write the number 1123. InDesign automatically writes 1 123, adding a space between the first two digits, no matter how often I delete the space. Presumeably it wants to separate the thousands from the hundreds. Is there a possibility to stop this automatism?

[Peter Spier]

Can you share a sample file where this happens, please? To the best of my knowledge InDesign has no sort of automatic number formating ability beyond possibly some auto-correct entry which would be number-specific..

[Oraceomio]

It is a zip code on an impressum page. And the bug happens in every file, no matter on a regular page or on a template page.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Is it possibly number auto-formatting associated with language or region preference? I don't know what language preference uses a space instead of the (US/Euro) comma, but it might be worth checking.

[Oraceomio]

Here is Austria, a German speaking country - and we have 4-digit zip codes without space.

That snot theonly strange thing happening. My guess is that something gets confused in the computer memory. Sometimes text fragments appear here and there, or previously added words disappear when loading a file again.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

What I meant is that something might be interpreting the number as a currency or other 'separated' value according to a region/language setting, It's the only think I know of that affects number formatting in such an indirect way.

[jmlevy]

In French, we use a thin space, but even if you choose French as the desired langage, InDesign does not add automatically this thin space.

[Oraceomio]

Maybe it is not a specific thing about a number, but there are random "Bermuda" spots where the file has problems to save data.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Have you tried the basic fix for INDD? Save the file as IDML, reopen and save as INDD? That often fixes corrupted files.

[Peter Kahrel]

It's possible that there's a GREP style in your paragraph style that adds the space. Can you check that?

[Peter Spier]

Ummm.....

A grep style coiuld add tracking, but not an actual deletable space.

Without seeing a sample file, or at the very least a screen capture with invisibles showing, we're just spinning our wheels speculating.

[Peter Kahrel]

> A grep style could add tracking, but not an actual deletable space.

Yes, I meant 'create space by tracking'.

[Willi Adelberger]

Kannst du uns eine Beispieldatei zukommen lassen? Ich vermute, dass eine GREP-Formatierung dahinter liegt.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Someone added this number to Autocorrect ??

[Scott Falkner]

Is this happening for every first two digits in a four digit sequence or only when there are two ones next to each other? I suspect the font you are using, like most fonts, uses uniform spacing for numbers, also called Tabular Lining. This means each digit takes up the same amount of space which makes it easy to align numbers in a table. If you have two 1s next to each other then there will appear to be extra space between them.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

But it's a physical space - extra character that can be deleted - not virtual one... 

[Scott Falkner]

Is it? According to the initial post it seems so, but that seems implausible. 

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Why? 

[Scott Falkner]

I have yet to see InDesign insert extra space as I type or within text I paste into a document. This after over 20 years using the program. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I'm betting on this, but we haven't seen an actual screenshot or file to either verify the guesses or help guide further ones.

Certain fonts do have spacing issues, especially between 1's and other figures.

The OP needs to identify the font, provide a quick screenshot or a sample file, or both for any further answers to help much. But I'd bet this (tabular spacing) is the cause.

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Why some stranger accepted this as a solution ?? 

[Steve Werner]

I agree. We don't have enough information to mark that comment as correct. It's just a guess.

[Peter Spier]

It could have been marked corect by the OP...

[Oraceomio]

Dear community,

Thank you very much for your enthusiasm to help. The discussion made it clear to think over the problem a while and to look for more experience. I could sort out the problem somehow, in that it needs to be split in two parts. The first part is misleading. It only looks like the issue is the recurring appearance of the unwanted space between two digits. As more recent experience showed, the issue is that the program does not keep your changes properly when several very similar files are open at the same time. Working with another "cluster" of open files, I changed a line in file 1, jumped to file 2 changing the same line, jumped to file 3 changing the same line, jumped back to file 1. Suprise, the line in file 1 had jumped back to the previous version.

Back to the unwanted space. It was the same situation, just affecting a space, which returned after deleting it in several other files at the same spot.

At any rate, I will avoid to have similar files simultaneously open and editing. Open, edit, save, and close a file every time is slow but save. 

P.S.: You might ask why this guy works with very similar open files. I am in the music business and need to edit orchestra parts from time to time. The parts are often just one page, with a one-page *.svg graphics, different for each part, and the recurring text on every part is impressum stuff in a frame.

[Peter Spier]

You have some very unusual problem on your system if changes to a file are reverting without your intervention. This is NOT normal behavior and I've never seen itr reported before. That is likely to take some sleuthing to untangle.

We can more easily figure out the unwanted space problem if you will give us some help. Please, at the very least, post a screen capture of the number with the extra space as it is entered, with invisible characters showing, and tell us the font in use. Also, do you see this behavior with any other digits, or when two 1s are typed together in any other postions? I suspect James may be correct that you are using tabular figures rather than proportional figures, and that may or may not be an option in your font.