Set a Hotkey for Clearing Text Style Overrides in InDesign

[turner111]

Is there a way to set a hotkey to clear text style overrides?

Thanks

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[Abhishek Rao · Accepted solution]

Hi @turner111, 

Thanks for reaching out. I understand how convenient it would be to have a hotkey for clearing text-style overrides.

In Adobe InDesign, there isn't a default hotkey specifically for clearing text style overrides, but you can use the following method to quickly clear overrides:

1. Highlight the text with style overrides.
2. Go to the Control Panel or the Character Styles panel and click the "Clear Overrides" button (a strikethrough plus sign).

If you frequently need this function, you might consider setting up a custom shortcut using the Keyboard Shortcuts menu:

1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. Select the set you want to modify or create a new one.
3. Look for the "Clear Overrides" command in the Panel Menus section.
4. Click in the "Shortcut" field and press the key combination you want to use.

Additionally, please find the below Adobe articles useful: 
Use object styles to format objects in an InDesign document (https://adobe.ly/3AysUCw)
Basics of paragraph and character styles (https://adobe.ly/3AysUCw)

I could find few external articles as well: 

InDesign: Remove all overrides for one paragraph style - Graphic Design Stack Exchange

InDesign CC Tip: Style Override Highlighter | Technology for Publishing LLC (https://adobe.ly/4dQDfI...

We hope this is helpful to you. Please let us know if you need any more assistance. 

Thank you,  
Abhishek Rao

[turner111]

Got it! I was looking under Text. Thanks.

[Alastair L]

It can be really hard to locate the menu item or whatever else you are looking for in the Keyboard Shortcuts editing window when there's the potential for multiple panels and menus to overlap in that particular query.

A fail proof way of find the item you need for your shortcut (if it exists) is to save the shortcut list to a text file. Then you can use whatver text editor you like to “Find” and “Find Again” the keyword you need.

I've imported the text for one of my shortcuts sets to InDesign and applied some GREP styles to make it more legible. You can export your own shortcut set to text and import it to this InDesign file and just apply the "0.  Body" paragraph style to make all the grep styles apply themselves to the relevant key names and other text.

For some reason this forum wont complete the upload of any files i put here. Indd, pdf, idlk -- I'll try again later. I

In the mean time I've put the relevant files on github.

https://github.com/aleith/indesign-keyboard-shortcuts

[leo.r]

It can be really hard to locate the menu item or whatever else you are looking for in the Keyboard Shortcuts editing window when there's the potential for multiple panels and menus to overlap in that particular query

By @Alastair L

Hopefully, one day InDesign will acquire the Keyboard Shortcuts UI like the one in Bridge.

[Alastair L]

I didn't know Bridge had a shortcuts editor. I know the AI one quite well. Also I no the lack of shortcuts editor in Acrobat is a major failing. Especailly given that the latest version got rid of the customisable ribbon at the top of windows where we could add frequently used commands. And the fact that it actively blocks the macOS shortcuts in Systems Settings which you can normally use for apps that refuse to build their own shortcut editor!

Acribat has always been the lame dog of the Adobe suite though in terms of GUI/UI/UX. Print shops rely on Acrobat plugins to get serious pre-press work done.

[Alastair L]

Ah, looks like Bridge was given the Premier and After Effects shortcut broswer/editor interface. Why can't they do it for all their apps? Starting with Acroabt which has nothing and actively blocks macOS shortcut software from working!

[leo.r]

I didn't know Bridge had a shortcuts editor. I know the AI one quite well. Also I no the lack of shortcuts editor in Acrobat is a major failing. Especailly given that the latest version got rid of the customisable ribbon at the top of windows where we could add frequently used commands. And the fact that it actively blocks the macOS shortcuts in Systems Settings which you can normally use for apps that refuse to build their own shortcut editor!

By @Alastair L

I myself only learned about the new Bridge keyboard shortcuts editor just recently on another forum.

As to Acrobat then yes its UI is notoriously lacking. Fortunately, we can still disable the disastrous "new Acrobat" UI. I think once you disable it, the ribbon functionality will be restored?

As to the shortcuts, I'm sure you know that Apple's own keyboard shortcuts facility in System Settings is so lame it's not worth dealing with anyway (in my view, at least). You can use various 3rd-party macro utilities to add keyboard shortcuts in Acrobat (as you may know anyway). Keyboard Maestro is powerful but not free. There's also Karabiner Elements, which is free and praised by users, but I've never used it.