Colour for text selection – user modifiable?

[Klаus]

Hi there!

With the current version of InDesign, is there a way to modify the display colour of text which is highlighted/selected? The default colour is black; can that be changed by the user?

Thanks

[Manan Joshi]

I don't think it is possible

-Manan

[Derek Cross]

You can create a character style and experiment with underline options.

[Klаus]

Not sure about your approach/solution, Derek ... Will that shown effect only be visible after selection of the text (»Highlight«)?

[Manan Joshi]

Hi Derek, could you please elaborate on how you achieved this? How did you trigger application of CStyle or anything else by tracking the user selection?

-Manan

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

Here's a screen shot of my underline character style highlight – you have to do one for each font size you want  to use in on

(It's just an idea!)

.

[Klаus]

OK – you obviously misunderstood my question, due to my poor English I’m sure. I don’t want any permanent »Design Change«, but a different colour for the (temporary) marking of a portion of text that has been selected (via mouse for instance).

When you double-click on a word, it will be selected and marked with a black rectangle (with reversed type colour). I’d like to be able to modify the default colour of that rectangle from black to any other color.

[Jongware · Accepted solution]

The other answers were possibly thrown off by the phrase "highlight", as it's close to what Word offers. "Selection" is what you are looking for here.

It is not entirely correct to state that a selection is "marked with a black rectangle". If you have a colored background, then you get a different color:

So no, there is not "one" selection color, and therefore it cannot be changed either.

There are a number of drawbacks to InDesign's current text selection mechanism -- a returning one is that it inverts the background color, and for some colors its inverse is ... the same color -- and so it might be a good feature request to put forward on https://indesign.uservoice.com/

[rob day · Accepted solution]

There is not a preference for the selection color.

Not sure if this helps, but you can work with story editor when the text selection gets hard to read. There is also Split Window if you want to see a preview of the selected text without the selection: