Space Between Paragraphs Bug?

[davecourtemanche]

Since updating to ID 19.2 (OS Sonoma 14.2.1), I am running into this issue more and more. I cannot set the Space Between Paragraphs Using the Same Style in the Paragraph Style Options / Indents and Spacing to "Ignore". Get this error message. Super annoying. Is this a bug?

[Eugene Tyson]

I've never seen that error message before

If a document is not behaving well then try 

File>Export 

Choose IDML

Open the IDML in InDesign
Save the file as a new InDesign file with a new name
See if the issue persists.

===

Try resetting your preferences:

Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.
Further info and instructions here if needed:
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

====

Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

[BobLevine]

Current version of Sonoma is 14.3 and fixes a slew of bugs in the O/S that affect InDesign.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

14.3.1 to be exact 😉

[BobLevine]

Yeah, yeah...everyone's a critic these days. 🙂

[Joel Cherney]

I'm on 19.2 on Win10 and can reproduce this bug, no sweat. All you need to do is have a set value for Space Between Paragraphs in a paragraph style, and then try to change it to "(Ignore)". It pops up the error message that @davecourtemanche reports:

However, it's possible to get it to reset back to "Ignore" by deleting the value and saving the style:

When you just look at it, it reports 0 points, but if you pull down the dropdown, it's set to "Ignore." This makes me wonder about the practical difference between 0 and Ignore here; is it a value where your parastyle is Based On another style, and you just want the child style to have whatever same-style inter-paragraph spacing that the parent style had? In any case, that's clearly a bug, and if you don't head over to indesign.uservoice.com to report it, I will.

[Joel Cherney]

Maybe the bug is that "Ignore" is an option at all? I posted the above when I had the steaming coffee sitting on my desk, but before I'd started drinking it. I took my first sip of the day and immediately slapped my forehead and said "What did I just post?" (I may have used somewhat stronger language.)

When I'm making character styles, I use "Ignore" all the time, because I want the values I've used in the paragraph styles to take over. That's what it's for, right? But in a paragraph style, all the values have to Be Something. If I go to Case or Kerning dropdowns in the Basic Character Formats section in a paragraph style, there's no "(Ignore)" setting there. It has to have a value. But if I'm in a character style, the "(Ignore)" option is there, meant to allow the parastyle values to be used. Are there any other locations in the paragraph styles where "Ignore" would be a valid choice?

[Eugene Tyson]

As you say - it's probably not a bug - but how it works - it has to be 0 or some value. 

That's how it works.

[Paul-MUK]

A bit late to the party on this one, but this bug is still active (and the workaround you posted still makes the style act as if "Space Between Paragraphs Using Same Style" is set to zero, despite what the open dropdown claims)...

Your first thought was correct – an "Ignore" option is definitely a requirement for this feature, because it overrides other settings that may be set within the "Indents and Spacing" options tab ("Space Before" and "Space After") if certain conditions are met (two consecutive paragraphs have the same paragraph style applied).

The "Space Between Paragraphs Using Same Style" option overrides both the "Space Before" and "Space After" settings for the style (if two consecutive paragraphs have the same style applied). The "Ignore" option allows you to default to using the "Space Before" and "Space After" spacings for the style.

Examples:

• Setting "Space Between Paragraphs..." to "Ignore" implements the "Space Before" and "Space After" settings between two paragraphs of the same style. (e.g. if "Space Before"=1pt, and "Space After=2pt, the space between two paragraphs of the same style would be 3pt.)
• Setting "Space Between Paragraphs..." to "0" overrides the "Space Before" and "Space After" settings and inserts zero space between paragraphs of the same style. (e.g. if "Space Before"=1pt, and "Space After"=2pt, the space between the two paragraphs of the same style would be 0pt.)

[Paul-MUK]

Having said all that – this is just how it worked when they first introduced the feature. There's nothing to stop them changing it into a more 'regular' field that requires a 0–[upper-limit] value. 

Although if they have done (or are in the middle of doing) that, you'd think they would tell the end users and there's been nothing in the release notes AFIK.