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multiple underline

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
July 14, 2025
5 replies
1571 views

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about laying out a book with InDesign, but I wanted to know from you experts if it's possible to do what I need:
The text is a combination of four different texts; to indicate which text it is, I'd need to underline it with four different colors; sometimes just one line, sometimes two, sometimes three, etc.

Is it possible?

Correct answer m1b

Congratulations!

You were spectacular!

What version of InDesign can I use to do this? I'm embarrassed to write this, but I currently have CS3 😮

How do I upload the script you created?

Thank you for your support; this work is for a good cause, and I'm really happy to be able to complete it with your help!

Pino

Hi @pino_2179 according to ChatGPT, Conditional Text was introduced in Indesign CS4, so my script definitely won't work in CS3. Even in CS4 I have no idea if the script will work as other things in the scripting API may have changed—there have been 17 major versions released since then!

Sorry to pass on the bad news. Perhaps you could subscribe for a month or two to finish your project?

- Mark

m1b

Community Expert

Hi @pino_2179 here is a screenshot showing the standard underline options available. You can adjust colour, thickness, offset and also choose from some preset line types. Maybe they would help in your case?

- Mark

P

pino_2179Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you so much everyone for your replies, and sorry for the delay 🙂

I'm attaching a screenshot of the hand-drawn underlining on a text...

I really hope I can complete this project!
I'm not an InDesign expert, but I know for sure that it's the only software that can help me 🙂

Thank you so much

m1b

Community Expert

Okay @pino_2179 I don't think any of our options will work because Indesign cannot apply multiple coloured underlines to the same text so where the black and green overlaps is a problem.

We are going to have to think outside the box on this one. I have some ideas but they all involve scripting.

rob day

Community Expert

The text is a combination of four different texts;

Just clarify do you want a single underline with different colors, or different colors and multiple strokes?

Single lines different colors:

Different colors and multiple lines:

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @pino_2179:

You can customize color and position of both an underline and a strikethrough so by that covers two of the lines.

The other lines that Willie referred to (paragraph rules and borders) are added at the paragraph level, which means you can't assign them to individual words within a paragraph. Not sure if you need to.

A sample or two would be very helpful— even if you just sketch it on paper and then take a picture of it to share with us.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

tonks_the_auror

Community Expert

Can you show us a sample of what the text will look like?

Does one piece of text potentially get one, two, three, or four underlines?

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

You can add different character styles on the same text via manually, GREP and nested styles. Additional you can use paragraph frames and rulers.

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