Soft Line Break key enters Page Break instead

[smasonMedIQ]

For as long as I've used InDesign, shift+return has been a soft line break. It still is on my work computer, a PC laptop. On my mac at home though, it shift+return enters a page break. The only way I can figure out how to do soft line breaks is to do a funky combination like "++" find and replace it with a soft line break, and then copy and paste them from there on out.

Is there a way to correct this?

[Bill Silbert]

This should not be happening. Regardless of what version of InDesign you're using the key combination you've mentioned should create a soft return.

Try trashing preferences. To do so on a Mac:

The User Library folder in which InDesign’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that InDesign is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N). With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe InDesign” and the file called “com.adobe.InDesign.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When InDesign is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files in this manner is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

[Laubender]

Hi smasonMedIQ ,

what's your keyboard on the Mac?

Has it a number pad?

Perhaps this num pad is set to the Number mode and then a Shift + Enter ( on the num pad ) will indeed return a Frame Break special character ( SpecialCharacters.FRAME_BREAK ).

Regards,
Uwe

[jane-e]

Hi smason,

Adding a bit to what Uwe said, a Mac has Return on the regular part of the keyboard and Enter on the Numeric part of the keyboard. They do not do the same thing, so check to see which you are using.

Shift+Return is a line break. Shift+Enter is a frame break. 

~ Jane

[anoure_7327]

I have an HP Zbook and working in Adobe InDesign. There is only an enter key there is no longer return key. I keep getting column breaks and frame breaks when I simply want copy text to be directly under a subhead and need a soft return. I am frustrated! Is anyone using a PC with only an Enter key?

[Barb Binder]

Hi @anoure_7327:

The labels on the keyboard don't matter: they can show Enter or Return. Mac and Windows keyboard show different labels but they work the exact same way.

What matters is the position of the Enter/Return key because InDesign maps them differently:

• The Enter/Return on the main part of the keyboard will start a new paragraph, and adding Shift will add a line break (under left orange rectangle).
• The Enter/Return on the numeric keypad will add a column break and adding Shift will add a frame break (under right orange rectangle).

~Barb

EDIT: I'm looking at new Zbooks and it looks like most of the keyboards have both parts to them so both keys will be there. But it also looks like some of them have a condensed keyboard and there's only one enter/return key. If that's yours, and this doesn't answer the question, please take a picture of it and post it in a reply in the browser (not email). I can't get a clear view of the keyboards on the HP site because they're all skewed to focus on the display.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @anoure_7327,

Can you try using the Shift+Enter keys to see if they help with your workflow? If not, kindly confirm the version of the OS/InDesign installed and share a small screen recording of the workflow so we can better assist you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav