Is it possible to change the default kerning from metrics to optical? I routinely use a font that looks better with optical and would prefer it to be my default.
Yes. With no documents open, go to the Paragraph Styles panel. Right-click to edit Basic Paragraph Style.
Make the following essential changes:
1. Change Kerning Method from Metrics to Optical
2. Change Hyphenation to 9, 3, 4, 1, 1p6, off, off, off
3. Change Justification to 80/100/120; -5/0/5; 95/100/105
Making such changes when no documents are open changes global defaults of all new documents and/or new paragraph styles. It will not retroactively change any existing paragraph styles nor older documents.
If you change the default basic paragraph style, what happens if you copy your text with basic style applied to another document where those changes have not been implemented?
Exactly, InDesign uses the (wrong) settings of the document it is copied into and causes a whole mess. Deviations from the basic style are no longer recognized and therefore can cause troubles everywhere because you always have a basic style in your document but never know how that is changed IF you change it.
That's why I'm with Uwe on this one: you never ever change the default styles.
I would add a new paragraph style that is based on [No Paragraph Style] when no document is open and define optical kerning there. Also do a new document with that style so that you can easily load the style from that document to documents you already did.
Note: I would never ever change the defaults on the [Basic Paragraph Style].
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