Indesign auto kerning to (-100) either side in 'space dash space' sequence - how do I stop it

[marcoc88569306]

I posted about this a few months ago but got nowhere because due to client confidentiality I couldnt upload the feature for people to open and look at. I can now do that and for expediency I've also added a screengrab to show what's happening. Indesign keeps kerning the 'space dash space' sequence to -100 as shown in the grabs. I don't want this to happen and it never used to happen but now it happens every time, with the caveat that somethimes it applies it both before and after the dash, whilst other times it's only after the dash. This is driving me nuts. Why is this happening and how do I stop it?

Any help is wildly appreciated.

[Peter Spier]

Your sample file does not seem to show the problem here. Windows 10, ID 17.0.1 x64 US.

[TᴀW · Accepted solution]

I haven't downloaded the file, but isn't this just the font's built-in metrical kerning?

You can turn it off by setting the kerning to 0 (rather than Optical or Metrics).

Ariel

[Peter Spier]

Hi Ariel,

It doesn't seem to be the built-in kerning. OP's screen grab shows -100 kerning and the file, at least when opened here, shows 0 in the same location.

[TᴀW]

But wouldn't that depend on whether you have the particular font (F37 Ginger) installed?

[Peter Spier]

Seems you may be correct. Temporarily installed bootleg .ttf version for testing only and got that kerning.

[marcoc88569306]

Awesome, thank you. I'll go through all the style sheets for the next issue. I have no idea why I didn't think of that. Sometimes the thing is just staring you in the face but you don't see it. Appreciate the help.

[TᴀW]

You're welcome. Normally, though, I rely on the font designer who added the kerning tables. If he or she wanted -100 in that particular combination, are you sure you want to override that design choice?

[marcoc88569306]

Me too, but to be honest my client has a thing about it, she really hates it, so I will have to go along with her wishes.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Create a character style:

Apply the character style in the GREP style section of your paragraph styles to apply it automatically:

Note: it appears you are using an En dash rather than an Em dash, so I used the code for the En.

I colored my character style red so I could see it in action. Also, I noted the Control panel does not show the applied character style's numbers, but it did change it. (I set the tracking to 200 to see if it changed and it did.)