Question on Using Paragraph Styles

[Andrew33035959gsww]

How do I create a Heading style that I can apply to any heading in my document? 

I somehow created a Heading 1+ style for a heading. Now I want to apply Heading 1+ to my other headings. But when I highlight another heading I don't see the Heading 1+ to apply to a second heading. If I highlight the heading with the Heading 1+ formatting, I can change it back to Heading 1 style; that option is not availabe in the pull down list. 

If I highlight the Heading 1+ heading I see this (no Heading 1):

 

If I highlight the Heading 1 heading I see this (no Heading 1+):

 

[Barb Binder]

Hi @Andrew33035959gsww:

Again, it's best to stick with one topic in a post—each unrelated question should be added to a new post. I moved this question to a new thread.

The style is called Heading1 and you can assign it to as many paragraphs as you like. 

When a + appears after the style name, that indicates that you have changed the style—introducing overrides—and it no longer conforms to the style definition. If you hover over a paragraph style that has a plus next to it, you can see all the things you have changed about it in the yellow box.

If you like the changes—and it sounds like you do—you need to right click Heading1+ in the Paragraph styles panel > Redefine Style. This incorporates those changes into the style definition, and all paragraphs that are using the Heading1 style will be updated automatically. 

See https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/paragraph-character-styles.html.

~Barb

[Andrew33035959gsww]

Wonderfully helpful. Amazing what a little + sign can do. Also thanks for the link to helpx. That will be very useful. 

[Scott Falkner]

Very well explained.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

How do I create a Heading style that I can apply to any heading in my document

Andrew, not to discourage you in any way, but all these questions are extremely basic aspects of using ID. Asking "How do I do [this one thing]" is not a good way to learn the app or gain the skills you need to use it. You will get answers here (we collectively try to help on all levels), but it's not going to add up to a comprehensive knowledge of how these things work.

I'd really, really pause your project long enough to work through several basic tutorials or "getting started" videos that will introduce ID's features in a comprehensive, sensible way. You are never going to get a book-length project to completion one nit of advice at a time. 🙂

[Andrew33035959gsww]

Where do I find the ...

several basic tutorials or "getting started" videos.

Would you be able to provide some links?

[Barb Binder]

Hi Andrew:

You can click on the Learn button on the welcome screen to access quite a few free videos/tutorials. If you get through all of these, there are more available online—just click the button at the very bottom of this page. 

~Barb

[Andrew33035959gsww]

Barb, I don't know where the welcome screen is. Will you please provide a link?

When you say "f you get through all of these, there are more available online—just click the button at the very bottom of this page" which page are you talking about? Will you please provide a link?

Thanks

[Willi Adelberger]

You have in InDesign a Help menu. There is also a link to the user manual. It is important to read it once to get the basics. 

[Andrew33035959gsww]

Thank you Willi. I have located the InDesign User Guide and will read through it. I found it here: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/user-guide.html

[Andrew33035959gsww]

Here is my first use of style packs. Looks like it's not as easy as highlight and click. 

 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

The whole concept of Style Packs is fairly new and not fully sorted out. It's not really a shortcut for novices as much as a helper tool for those who have mastered the basics.

InDesign is not a tool you can use by brute-forcing your use of it. You absolutely must master the basic elements of layout, features and the UI before you can progress in any useful way. Once more, backing up to a novice position and learning the fundamentals will make your projects, current and future, much easier to create and shape. Put another way, you can put in some time learning the tool, and then use it efficiently, or you can plunge into complex project and spend many, many hours trying to hammer them into shape without really understanding how the "hammer" works.

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Hi Andrew:

When you open InDesign, you will be presented with the welcome screen, shown above. Click the Learn button (oulined above in orange) to get to the videos.

If InDesign is already open, click the House-shaped button under the File menu to return to the welcome screen. Another option to access the free videos is Window > Learn. (Both of these are shown below.)

~Barb