Pasted text coming in 3 sizes too big

[DigitalChickster]

Hi there! I have a template I use over and over. Invariably, when I delete the old text (9 points) and paste in new text... it's the correct font, but it always shows up at 12 points. I tried removing all paragraph styles from the text box, but it's still happening. There are no character styles on the text box.

What else can I try to make the text paste in at 9 points? 

I'm using InDesign 18.1 on my iMac running OS 13.4

Thanks! 

[rob day]

Hi @DigitalChickster , Does Edit>Paste without Formatting help?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

This sounds very much like a style conflict. Generally, when you paste something in, it will take on the style that's active at the point of cursor insertion. So if you have some text with a style override applied, pasting into it will give the new material that style. But, if you delete everything, pasting will take on the base style assigned to that paragraph. So you'd see weird variations like this.

When you paste, do two things. First, glance at the styles when you set the cursor. If they are not showing the Paragraph Style you expect, or if it has a + flag indicating override changes, or (most often) a Character Style is applied at that point, you may get wonky results. Clear the style settings of the insertion point before pasting.

Second, as Rob hints at, using the plain-text paste setting can keep from dragging in unwanted styles and overrides. There's a whole menu to set this by default, at the bottom of the Edit | Preferences list. Experiment to see what works for you. But the above, making sure you're pasting into what you think you're pasting into, is basic good practice.