Paragraph border shows at bottom of page, regardless of end of paragraph

[Kaloth]

So I have a new project where I'm using the paragraph border option to put a border around certain text elements.

Only problem is, as mentioned in the title, at the bottom of a page, if the paragraph with a border on the bottom continues over to the next page. I get a bottom border at the bottom of page/text box, and at the bottom of the paragraph on the next page. (see image)

You'll notice at the bottom of p122 that, despite the paragraph not ending, it has a border line drawn under it. The actual end of the paragraph is on p123.

I'm wanting the border to only apply at the end of the paragraph. Is that at all possible? I've looked everywhere and can find nothing relating to this. I really don't want to have to jury-rig it by putting in a line break at the bottom of 122, full justify (so it looks like it's still a part of the following copy), and apply no bottom border just to make this work - it's messy and unprofessional. Not to mention annoying, as it occurs throughout the project.

[Mike Witherell]

You might consider the simplicity of a Keep Option: Keep all lines together in paragraph. The paragraph will break two lines sooner, and the boxing won't look awkward.

[Kaloth]

Hi Michael,

I had considered that in some instances, but unfortunately not all work so neatly. Often a gap larger than two lines will be left behind (5-7). As awful a solution it is, I'd rather jury-rig it with line breaks and justification than have awkward white space there.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[Anna Lander]

Do you need the top edge to be without stroke?

If not, you could set the border to the text frame instead of the paragraph.

[Kaloth]

Yes, the top edge of p123 needs to be without a stroke. I'm using opened border at the bottom/top to indicate that the box continues over the page, and it's not the start of a new box. Unboxed text follows immediately after the boxed text, so putting a border on the text box doesn't work as a solution.

I had considered just rolling with not leaving the bottom/top open but then I encounter the same problem, in reverse. If I put a top border on that last paragraph, while it will place that border at the top of p123, it will also do so at the actual top of that paragraph on p122.

It seems that paragraph borders as they are only really work well when it's a single paragraph, or when the bordered content doesn't split across pages.

[Anna Lander]

well, then the way might be to create 3 styles: top-border for the 1st paragraph, bottom-border for the last and no-border for all others. In this case you just need to take care of keeping options to have the correct paragraph type at the edges  crucial points. Could you try it and say if it gives the solution?

[Kaloth]

Anna, I'm currently using 3 styles in much the way you describe. I have a 'top', 'middle' and 'bottom' style (top and side border, only sides, sides and bottom border)

The problem seems to be in the way that indesign handles paragraph borders that flow across text boxes, it treats a single paragraph as multiple paragraphs. I can see how it might be useful in limited scenarios, but my hope is that Adobe will realise that a checkbox to turn on/off this behaviour would be beneficial.

I think I'm going to have to surrender to simply breaking the paragraph at the bottom of the page, assigning the 'middle' style to it and full-justifying it, then allowing the other half of the paragraph to continue as the 'bottom' style on the next page. Really not ideal, but I get the feeling there's no "proper" way around it.

[Steve Werner]

The product managers have promised future improvements in the feature which was only introduced last October.

[Laubender]

Hi Hoëk ,

another quick & dirty workaound:
Obscure the bottom border with a filled graphic frame.
Fill color [Paper]…

Regards,
Uwe

[FRIdNGE]

Hi Uwe,

Some days ago, I've written a script ["for free"] I could modify a little (including an UI to choose the family 'main' para style, considering all the para styles has a similar name as:

FRIdNGE_Title

FRIdNGE_CurrentText

FRIdNGE_Enum•

FRIdNGE_Enum•None

FRIdNGE_Enum–

FRIdNGE_Enum•None

…

All the para styles are based on the 'main' one, that is here: FRIdNGE_CurrentText

This 'main' para style includes 2 deactivated para rules (and, of course, 2 vertical borders, activated by default).

The way the Script works: it searches in the doc all the chains of consecutive paras using these para styles, deativates all the para rules then "activates" the para rule above for the first and the para below for the last one.

It's not automatic but it's just 1 click!

If the layout moves, just 1 click again! …

Best,

Michel, from FRIdNGE

[Laubender]

Hi Michel,

I think, the real problem is if the last paragraph that should have the horizontal rule at the bottom will flow from one text frame to the next one or flows from one text column to the next one. Then the horizontal rule at the bottom will be rendered two times: At the bottom of frame/column where the paragraph begins and the at the bottom where the same paragraph ends. In this case you only could split the paragraphs into two or obscure the horizontal rule at the bottom of the frame/column with a filled rectangle.

Regards,
Uwe

[Obi-wan Kenobi]

Hi Uwe,

I 'm not on ID CC 2018!

What is the function of the checkbox at the bottom of the Borders window?

Best,

Michel, from FRIdNGE