InDesign applies attributes to the line not highlighted

[thejoyliu]

I've been having an issue with typesetting in InDesign for months now and have manually worked around it, but I'm hoping to find the source of the problem. It's difficult to explain, but when I apply text attributes with paragraph styles, the eyedropper, or Space Above, Space Below, and other similar functions, the changes apply to the line above or the line below the intended line. Sometimes it applies to the line I want as well, but it will also apply to the line above or below.

I've attached screen shots demonstrating this with the Space Below paragraph adjustment tool.

In the first image I'm about to apply Space Below. You'll see in the second image I increase Space Below with "Annual Dinner" still highlighted, but it does not move the script font line "passed hors d'ouevre" down, and instead increases the space below passed hors d'ouevre. And ideas?

I end up going in multiple times to each line in a body of text and manually fixing each line until it matches my employer's guidelines, instead of relying on the eyedropper and similar tools to speed up the process like I used to do. I usually end up using a hard enter to "break apart" the lines in order to apply different text attributes, and then go back later and delete the spaces once the attributes are applied. It takes a long time and it's a convoluted process to train to a new person coming on.

There are no character styles applied and I've tried setting everything to Adobe Single-line Composer. My coworker started having this problem too when she opened one of my documents to edit on her computer.

Thank you!

[AnneMarie Concepcion]

Can you take another screen shot with Hidden Characters showing? (Type > Show hidden characters).

That would show exactly where paragraphs end. What you describe is likely that you're applying some setting to a line that's not a separate paragraph, but "belongs" with the one above or below, because they're separated with a soft return (Shift-Enter or Shift-Return) and not an actual carriage return/paragraph (Enter or Return).

>>I usually end up using a hard enter to "break apart" the lines in order to apply different text attributes, and then go back later and delete the spaces once the attributes are applied. It takes a long time and it's a convoluted process to train to a new person coming on.>>

Yes you should ALWAYS use "hard enters" to break lines apart, unless there's a specific reason not to! There is no reason for the convolution.

Soft returns break lines but don't create new paragraphs. When you apply a paragraph setting to that line, it applies to the full paragraph. So, space above might be applied to a line or three above the line where your cursor is.

Setting centered menu text is a pain. But it sounds like you're inadvertently making it a bigger pain for yourself (and new employees!). The only soft-returns you should be using are in those paragraphs for Menu Item Description (lowercase and ital) to break the lines where you want instead of them extending the width of the text frame. All other lines of text should end with a Paragraph ("hard") return.

Please use Paragraph styles to format the text, not the Eyedropper tool! Much faster to use Paragraph styles.

AM

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Please turn on your invisible characters (Type > Show Invisible Characters) and also show your Character panel. Then take a new screenshot.

Thanks!

[thejoyliu]

Sure, thanks Jeff and Annmarie.

Here is a screenshot with hidden characters showing, and with the character panel showing.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

You're using forced line breaks instead of Paragraph Returns. This means the first and second lines are part of the same paragraph. Select the Forced Line Break at the end of the first line and just press Return (or Enter). See if that helps!

[thejoyliu]

Thanks Jeff, I'm giving this a try in all the scenarios I usually encounter. So far it worked for this body of text. Thank you! I'll send an update once I test it out further.