How do I erase PART of a line drawn with the line tool in ID?

[pn78204181]

I'm brand new to InDesign.   I've drawn a line using the Line Tool.  It's just a simple straight, vertical line.   And now I want to erase a segment in the middle of it, so the line will have a gap in it.    The erase tool just makes a little cloud shape but it doesn't erase anything.     How do I do this?    Thanks in advance!

[Migintosh]

You can use the pen tool to do that.

1. Start by selecting your line with the Select tool (black arrow)
2. Click and hold on the Pen tool in the Tools pallet. That will show you the various tools nested within the Pen tool.
3. Select the Add Anchor Point tool (the pen with the +)
4. Click two points on your line where you would like the gap (you will see a new blue dot if you hit the line. If you missed, it won't add an anchor to the line, but just try again until you hit it)
5. Switch to the Direct Select tool (white arrow)
6. Click into an open part of your page to deselect the line
7. Select the segment by clicking on it with the Direct Select tool, or dragging a marquee through the segment of the line you created by adding the two anchor points
8. Hit the Delete key

That's one way, but there are others as well. Since you're brand-new to InDesign, may I suggest you try some instructional videos at Lynda.com or a book (InDesign Visual Quickstart Guide by Sandee Cohen has been recommended on the forum).

[peternelson]

I don't understand step 7.   Once I've deselected the line (step 6) the blue dots marking my segment disappear.   If I draw a marquee anywhere in the line ALL the blue dots of the line including the end points and any other anchor points on the line appear, regardless of whether they are inside the marquee.   So what do I select just the segment I want to erase with and how do I tell that segment is selected?

Thanks in advance for further clarification.

BTW, I'm using Adobe CC.

[Migintosh]

You delete the segment by selecting it with the Direct Select (white arrow) tool and hitting the Delete button. If you zoom in and see the anchor points before you deselect, it shouldn't be too hard to remember where they are, but if you like, you can drag a ruler guide to each one before you deselect the line. Also, when you click to deselect the line, click near the segment and don't release the mouse button before dragging the marquee. That way, the anchor points will still be visible while you drag the marquee, and you can go right between the two points.

I fixed it in my initial instructions to make it more clear.

[peternelson]

If I click in the line using the white arrow it shows all the anchor points on the line -  the two end points and any anchor points I've added.  If I've added several pairs of anchor points to mark off several segments that I plan to erase they all show up.  The segment I've clicked on is not highlighted any differently to show that it's selected.

I drew a horizontal line and added some anchor points to illustrate this.  I clicked on the first segment and you can see that ALL the points light up and there's nothing to tell me that any particular segment is selected.

[Migintosh]

While you see the points, click above and between two of them, don’t release the mouse button,  then drag down and release. That will select the segment between the two points. 

[peternelson]

Okay, that worked but it's very subtle...

...the anchor points around the selected segment are solid blue and the other ones have a pixel or two of white in the middle but you need to zoom in to see the difference.  And I have no idea what the big blue square is but it appeared when I seleted the segment.   

Anyway, thanks for all your help.

[Kāminī]

Thank you for this step by step guide, Migintosh, it worked out really well for me to understand using the pen tool to delete parts of a line out. 

[Nick Passmore]

It would take some work to set up, but it would play to InDesign's strengths and be more flexible to use a combination of paragraph and character styles to get this effect.

I would set it as:
tab, date, tab, pipe character, tab, text
for the lines with a month name and
tab, tab, pipe character, tab, text
for the lines with no month name.

Then set up a paragraph style to control the tabs as right, right, left and to set their positions with a nested style to call a character style after two tab characters that stretches the pipe character below the baseline enough to connect to the pipe character on the line below.

[Steve Werner]

It's working for me in InDesign CC 2019. Here two images to show this. You must DRAG ALONG THE PATH over the part you wish to erase.

[Steve Werner]

I also support what Migintosh wrote. You should learn about using the Pen and Direct Selection tool to be able to work with more complex paths.

[peternelson]

I don't understand your illustration. 

 Here two images to show this. You must DRAG ALONG THE PATH over the part you wish to erase.

I see three images.  Or one image with three segments.    Not sure what you mean by "drag along the path"  If I click and hold the black arrow along the line it moves the entire line; if I click and hold the white arrow it moves whatever section of the line its on between the two anchor points.   I just want to select the segment I created by adding anchor points so I can delete it.

Step 7 in migintosh's recipe seem to be the key to this.   How do I select the segment between the two anchor points I made, i.e., what tool do I use and what feedback does ID give me to know that I've selected it, so I can delete it?

Thanks in advance for further clarification.

[Migintosh]

Steve is telling you how to do it with the eraser tool. Select the line with the Direct Select tool first, then switch to the Erase tool and click directly on the line where you want to erase a segment and drag the eraser tool along the line to the point you want to stop. In Steve's illustration, he deleted two segments from a line, leaving three segments with two gaps.

[peternelson]

OK that helps.   I wish he had mentioned the Erase tool in his posting because I thought he was elaborating on your post. 

I tried the erase tool earlier and nothing happened.  But I think it was because I had drawn the line inside a text box.   The fact that it let me draw the line in the text box implied I could also erase the line in the text box.   But I guess not.   

But outside a text box it seems to work OK.

I normally use Photoshop for these things -  cards and advertising graphic design - but someone in my gallery club suggested InDesign.   I don't want to invest a lot of learning curve time in it unless I'm sure it will be better than Photoshop for my purposes.

Thanks for all your help!!

[peternelson]

I wanted to illustrate what I'm trying to achieve.   This is a crop from my club's event calendar from last year.  I was impressed by the way whoever made it got all the vertical lines next to the months to line up perfectly, and I decided one way to do it would be to make just one line and erase out where the gaps are.  If this was Photoshop it would take me about 10 seconds.

[Migintosh]

If you want to use a line, I would make one the size you need for one month, then make copies for the rest. If you select the line with the Direct Select tool, you can copy it by dragging with the Option key down. If you also hold Shift, it will constrain your copy to 90 or 180 degrees, so the lines will align as you create them. You can also select the lines after and use the align tool to make sure they are even. 

[peternelson]

They're not all the same length.  I think the erase tool will give me what I need now that I understand its limitations.

[Migintosh]

Points connecting lines is known as vector art. You can do vector art in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustator, and type is vector-based. You should look at some videos on how vector art works. It will all make sense, and you really need to know some basics if you are to realistically evaluate any of these programs.