Edit text
Discover tips and tricks to edit text in InDesign.
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Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks for editing text in InDesign CC.
The first thing that I want to show you is how you can view invisible characters. and this can be helpful if you receive a document and you don't know how it was formatted.
Do I have a paragraph return here?
Was a tab used or are these simply spaces before the word.
All of this information can be revealed by coming up to the Type menu and from the Type menu you can choose Show Hidden Characters.
Now we know a paragraph return was used, a tab was used here and several spaces were placed before this word.
You can toggle this feature on and off by using the command through the menu like I just showed you.
Or you can use a keyboard shortcut which is Command Option I here on a Mac.
It's Control Alt I on Windows.
If you have the Selection tool active like I do you can simply double-click within a frame to activate an insertion point.
If you double-click within a word you'll select it.
If you triple-click you'll select the entire sentence.
If you quadruple-click you'll select the entire paragraph.
If you want to select everything within the text frame you can use the keyboard shortcut which is Command A on the Mac.
It would be Control A on Windows.
If you're a writer working within specific limits you can view the Info panel. and the Info panel will tell you how many Characters are used within a text frame, how many Words, how many Lines and also how many Paragraphs.
If a client sends you some changes to incorporate through email you can easily copy and paste that text.
And that text will be automatically formatted to match the contents of the text frame.
Let me jump over to my mail client.
I'm going to come over here and select this text and copy it to the clipboard - Command C or Control C on Windows.
I can return back to InDesign CC and all I have to do is place an insertion point within the text frame.
And once I paste using the keyboard shortcut Command V or Control V on windows you'll notice that the formatting is maintained.
So, in that case it was really helpful but in other cases it may be problematic.
For example, I may want to come up here and select Introduction.
I'm going to copy this and I'm going to paste it right here after Transit use.
If I paste this Introduction will look exactly the way that it did in the previous text frame which doesn't match.
So, another option is to come over to the Edit menu and from the Edit menu you can choose Paste without Formatting.
The Eyedropper tool can also be used to copy formatting.
If I come over to the Tools panel and select the Eyedropper tool with it selected I can come over and click over the text that I want to copy its formatting for.
Once I do that you'll notice the Eyedropper tool changes.
There's a little "T" which is an indicator that I'm going to copy the formatting and apply it to the selected text.
Once you let go of the mouse you'll notice that that text matches.
Finally, you can drag and drop text.
If you're making changes to the text within the layout this can be a really helpful feature.
The first thing that you have to do is come up to the InDesign menu and choose Preferences.
From Preferences you want to select the Type... category.
If you're on the Windows side you can go to the Edit menu, Entries, Preferences and then select Type...
Once you do, inside the Preferences dialog box you want to come down to the Drag and Drop Text Editing category and Enable in Layout View.
Then you can come over and click OK.
At that point you can come over and select the paragraph I'm going to press the T key on the keyboard to activate the Type tool, I'll select this paragraph and with it selected I can simply click and drag to move it to a new location.
As you can see these features inside of InDesign CC make it incredibly easy to work with your text.
Contributors
Matthew Pizzi
Train Simple
