Rule Above in Text Box

[scottonnob]

Probably a simple explanation, but I can't figure this out. I want to add a single 2pt rule at the top of a text box with a .3125 offset to the first line of text. I can do it with Paragraph Styles, but then it applies the rule to every paragraph in the box. I only want one rule in a text box with multiple paragraphs. It's meant to be a graphic design element to begin each page. Ultimately, I'd like to find a way to create a style for a text box that I can apply to multiple pages by just clicking a tag. I can't find any tutorials online that deal with this problem. All the videos are for images and advertising-type layouts. I'm looking for elements more common to typography and book design. The attached screen-shot shows the sort of thing I'm looking to create as a text box style, just a single rule to begin the page and box. Maybe it has to do with imbedding a graphic element, but I'm dead in the water. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[brianp311]

Is the location of the rule always going to be the same on the page? If so, seems like a prime candidate to just embed as a rule in a Master Page keeping it separate from the text frame. Otherwise, you can set up a "First Graf" Paragraph Style based on the base paragraph style, but as you note, this could be problematic if the text reflows. Third option would be a grouped textframe/rule library item. 

[Scott Falkner]

If you select the text frame before you format text the formatting will aply to all the text in the text frame. Use the type tool and target only the paragraph you want to format.

[nigelfrench]

This seems like it should be an easy thing to do, but it's got me perplexed too.

As brian suggests, if the rule is always going to be in the same place, then put it on the master page and apply that master page to all pages where you want the rule.
A paragraph rule or a paragraph border won't really work because of the likelihood of the text reflowing. Unless you include a Keep Option in the paragraph so that it always starts at the top of the page. Depending on the kind of text you're working with, that may or may not be possible.
It's a shame that we can't set independent stroke weights on each side of a text frame. You can do this with tables, but that's way too complicated.

You could group a text frame with a rule above and save this as a library item. Thereafter as needed just drag the item from the library to the page. Not an elegant solution, but it would work.

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I hope your issue is resolved now. We'd appreciate if you can mark the appropriate answer correct.

If you used any other method, please share it here. It'll help other users having similar concern.

If you still have issues, let us know. We'll be happy to help.

Regards,

Ashutosh