Last line of paragraph always lower (line spacing is higher)

[Guest]

I often had this problem with InDesign CS3 (and I think CS2 also).
When composing a paragraph in InDesign, the last line will often be further away,
is that a known issue about InDesign. I checked the paragraph option (space afters, space befores, etc) and there is nothing: All line in the paragraph have the same characteristics.
There are no characters in subscript or superscript mode.

What could cause that?

Thank you

Louis

G5, Leopard, Suitcase X1, Creative Suite CS3.

[Cindy Johnston · Accepted solution]

I think you need to turn on Apply Leading To Entire Paragraph in preferences, or, select the entire paragraph and check to see in the control panel if it is indeed the same.

[Jem34644535x602]

How do I do this please step by step ?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Under Edit | Preferences —

...check that box, "Apply Leading etc." This is not a change without consequences in how layout and styling will work for you, so if you check it and later have odd issues with paragraph line spacing, you might want to go back and uncheck it. That is, it's a bit of a "big hammer" fix when more delicate, individual corrections and format practices might be more appropriate.

As for the other comment, quadruple-click on any suspect paragraph so that the whole thing is selected. Now look at the 'Control Panel' (a lousy name, IMHO) for all the text settings, across the top of the ID window. If the line spacing window at far left shows a value, you have consistent leading (line spacing) applied to the whole paragraph. If it's blank, you have two or more line spacing settings crowded into that paragraph. You will also usually have an override flag (+ sign at the end of the name) for that paragraph style in the style list. Remove all the overrides (spot changes) applied, and the paragraph should now show consistent line spacing.

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

You've got a paragraph return at the end of the last sentence that has
different attributes than the rest of the paragraph.

Bob

[Aussie_leah]

I had this problem too and couldn't work it out. Thanks Bob, that was the issue; problem solved!

[Jack26548569q9yx]

Thank you!! My head was about to explode trying to fix this. 

[Nathan34425695j1py]

Thanks a lot. Totally fixed it

[skowchow]

Thank you, you just saved me a bunch of time. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

This can be done easiest by using pargraph styles, or if not using styles, by clicking the paragraph four times.

[Choroš]

Thank you a lot!

[Guest]

What Bob said you have a space or return at a different leading.

[Guest]

Or the return could just be a larger size.

[_peterpica_]

Brings back not-so-fond memories of PageMaker too!

[Guest]

Was code from PageMaker pasted in InDesign and then compiled. Oh no !

[Brutus_Maximus]

Louis, are you using fixed leading or autoleading? If you're using autoleading, any variation in point size on a line of type will affect the leading above that line. It's usually caused by a carriage return in a different point size on the terminal line of a paragraph, often in copy imported from Word.

Addendum: So far as I'm aware, InDesign contains all-new code, with nothing carried over from PageMaker. I'm sure Dov Isaacs will come along to confirm this for us.

[Mr. Met]

Be sure there is a hard return after last paragraph. I get a lot of word files with no hard return after the last paragraph in a section/chapter and when I place into ID, the last line floats away until I enter a hard return.

[BobLevine]

> Be sure there is a hard return after last paragraph.

That may solve one problem but could lead to another. If the text is in
a copyfit state, you're going to wind up with overset warnings.

Bob

[_Dave_Saunders_]

A lone paragraph return at the end of a story will never cause overset, but if you have an XML-closing-tag after that paragraph return (or any white space character), then you'll get an overset warning even though the only overset item is non-printable and not relevant to most of the things that one worries about for overset text.

Dave

[Guest]

I was having this issue for a while too.

I was copying in text from Word docs and the last line on some was spaced lower. I ended up going to the end of the line with the issue and hitting Delete, solved the problem in every instance.

Thanks for the help!

[Guest]

A couple of years late but here is another solution. If the text has come from another app like Word, Framemaker, Quark, Pagemaker, etc. then there could be formatting hidden in the paragaph. So, select the text in the other app and Copy. Then open a text box in InDesign and select Paste without Formatting. This may be greyed out. No problem. Open another temporary text box and select Paste. Then select the text in the temp text box, and Copy. Then you should be able to Paste without Formatting into the text box you wanted to paste the text to. Then delete the temp text box. The text should be stripped of any previous formatting and will only contain formatting inherited from the InDesign Paragtaph Style.

[Willi Adelberger]

Complicated.

Select the whole paragraph or text and apply remove overrides from the Paragraph Style Panel menu.

Or reapply the style with holding the ALT key.

Or apply the styles with right mouse click by selecting the correct context menu,

[Guest]

Thanks Willi. I struggled recently with this problem and some stubborn text from and old FrameMaker 7 document. Remove Overrides didn't work so I tried my complicated route and it did the trick. I still have no idea what was hidden in the original FrameMaker text. Thanks for these solutions though. Frankly, any solution that does the trick is good!

[Willi Adelberger]

If rmove overrides does not work it is because a Character Style is applied. Clcik in Character Style on None.

[rob day]

There's also the Apply Leading to Entire Paragraph preference, which I don't think was mentioned in this thread. With it unchecked you can select a single line in a paragraph and adjust its leading without affecting the other lines. The top paragraph has a mix of leadings.