Spacing problems in justified text

[MarieMeyer]

InDesign 2022 on a Mac.

I am working for the first time on a very long nonfiction book that is laid out with 10/12 type and 4" wide columns of justified text.

I am familiar with the tool for highlighting hyphenation and justification errors on the full page.

But even so, everyone in a while my eye falls on a single word like the "are" in this image and I want to scream:

Do readers notice just things? Do you go through and fix individual words in a 340 page document? If so, how?

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Hi @MarieMeyer , did you select the line and double-check that there’s no custom kerning or tracking applied:

Also turn on Hidden Characters and make sure there’s no white space character inserted between the a and r—like a thin space:

[Randy Hagan]

If you don't mind me saying so, you may also want to proof the text. "To" is a perfectly good word that spellchecking would pass by every time, but I think you want to say items "are too expensive."

Meaning no disrespect,

Randy