InDesign Right-Justified Tabs Acting as if Right Indent Applied

[Joseph-C]

I've had an issue with right-justified tabs in multiple documents where they behave like a right indent is applied to the paragraph. Adding a Right Indent Tab seems to clear the issue in the style.

[Peter Spier]

Cant really tell where the tab is from your style definition screen captures. Please post a shot of the tab ruler on top of the column.

[Joseph-C]

It's in this screenshot. The tab is at 43p0, the width of the text frame. However, a non-existing right indent prevents it from working properly. The right indent corrects itself in the paragraph style once I add the special character for the right indent tab in the text.

[Peter Spier]

That screen shot is showing the tab is beyond the right margin of your column...

[Joseph-C]

Yes, that's the crux of my problem. The paragraph style shows the tab is beyond the right margin of the column, but there's no reason it should behave that way. The right margin displays correctly when I add the special character for a Right Indent Tab.

[Peter Spier]

Two things you can try since it seems the style is corrupted.

First, export to .idml, open that and save with a new name as .indd.

Second, create a new document. In that document define the style as it should be and save. In the document that is not working correctly open the Paragraph Styles panel menu and choose Load Paragraph Styles... As the source to load the styles from pick the new file, and check the box to use incoming styles in case of conflict.

[Peter Spier]

Please open the tab rule (Cmd + Shif + T) and with the cursor active in the text frame click the little magnet icon to anchor it to the column.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What happens if you copy/paste to a new text frame?

I'm thinking Span Columns might be overriding a 2-column text frame, but it's hard to tell from the screen capture. 

[Joseph-C]

It's a 1-column frame. My guess is that it's some kind of bug, or I need to delete and reinstall InDesign. It's happened with other documents, too.

I'm running ID 20.0.1.32 in Mac OS Sequoia 15.3 (24D60) on a 2019 MacBook Pro with 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 and 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Span Columns is a paragraph settings. 

Here is a layout with 3 columns; the heading spans all columns; the intro spans two columns; the small table-like grid uses the split column settings 

[Joseph-C]

This style doesn't span columns. Even if it did, the text frame only has one, so there is nothing to span.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Can you upload the file or, if the content if not for the public, IM me (click on my name).

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Hi Joseph, I reviewed your file and did not see the problem on either my Mac or Windows. The tab ruler looked fine (full column width) and the tabs worked correctly.

I noticed you were on Mac based on the _MACOS folder in your zip file. What is your exact InDesign version and your OS version?

[Joseph-C]

Hi David,

The problem comes and goes. I'm running ID 20.0.1.32 in Mac OS Sequoia 15.3 (24D60).

My device is a 2019 MacBook Pro with 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 and 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What happens if you upgrade to InDesign 20.1? You can always reinstall the previous version if necessary.

Also, try some of these steps when the problem pops up again:

https://www.ideastraining.com/TutorialsAndTips/TroubeshootInDesign.html

You might want to scroll down to the "Tests" section first.