9. Working with Text Styles

In this chapter you learn how to create character and paragraph styles and apply them to selected text.

By utilizing styles in InDesign, you can save and apply various character and paragraph attributes quickly and easily. By saving your favorite attribute combinations as styles, you can then apply them to text selections with one simple click.

Understanding “Style Language”

To get the most out of this chapter, you should familiarize yourself with “style language,” which includes the following terms:

• Local Formatting refers to text attributes that are applied directly, without the use of styles. Any formatting changes that you make affect the selected text only.

• Global Formatting refers to text attributes that are applied using styles; so called because all text items formatted this way throughout the document are affected by any changes made to the style.

• Overriding occurs when you add local formatting to text that has a style applied to it. It is possible to add overridden attributes to a style and also remove them from stylized text.

• Default Character/Paragraph Formatting refers to the attribute settings that are entered in the Character, Paragraph, and Control panels at application launch.

• Undefined Attributes are the local formatting attributes left unchanged by an applied style.

Creating and Applying Character Styles

InDesign allows you to save and apply character attributes, such as type size, leading, kerning, and tracking, as a character style. The great thing about saving character styles is it gives you a quick way to apply the same character attributes to repeating text, such as headings, subheads, or custom drop caps. This does not include paragraph attributes such as justification, alignment, indents, and spacing.

Creating Character Styles

You can create a character style in three ways: from scratch, by basing the new style on preformatted text that you have selected, or by basing it on an existing style.

• To create a character style from scratch (with no text attributes already set), make sure that you do not have any text selected in the document, and that you also do not have a character style selected in the Character Styles panel. Option-click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the Create New Style button located at the bottom of the Character Styles panel, or choose New Character Style from the Character Styles panel menu.

• To create a character style that starts out inheriting all the attributes of some text that has already been formatted locally, select the formatted text with the Type tool, then Option-click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the Create New Style button at the bottom of the Character Styles panel. This is the easiest way to create a new character style. You can also access the New Character Style Command from the character style drop-down list in the Control panel (click the character icon to access the list).

• To create a character style that starts out inheriting all the attributes of another style, make sure no text is selected and highlight the existing style in the Character Styles panel. Click the Create New Style button or choose New Character Style from the Character Styles panel menu. Note that using this method makes the style chosen in the Character Styles panel the new document default.

When you use any of these methods to create a character style, InDesign displays the New Character Style dialog box. Each of the panels in this dialog box mirrors the formatting controls located throughout the interface. You can access a panel by clicking its name in the menu to the left (see Figure 9.1).

Figure 9.1. The New Character Style dialog box enables you to specify which character attributes you’d like to save as a character style.

When you create a new character style based on locally formatted text that you currently have selected, some of the settings in the Character Style Options dialog box appear blank. This is because InDesign adds only those attributes to the character style that have been changed from the defaults. Therefore, when you apply a character style to selected text in InDesign, only the attributes defined by the style are changed—all other local formatting remains unchanged.

Applying Character Styles

To apply a character style to some text, select the text with the Type tool and click the style name in the Character Styles panel, or choose the style name from the Control panel drop-down list. Again, only the attributes defined by the style are applied—all other attributes remain local.

After you apply it, the character style becomes linked to the text. It can be removed by selecting the text and applying the None style (by clicking None in the Character Styles panel or Control Panel), or by choosing Break Link to Style from the Character Styles panel menu (see Figure 9.2).

Figure 9.2. You can also access the Break Link to Style command from the character style drop-down list located in the Control Panel.

When breaking a style link, all stylized attributes become local and are not removed from the text. To break the link and reformat the text using default attributes, hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) as you select the Break Link to Style command from the Character Styles panel menu, or apply the None style.

Creating and Applying Paragraph Styles

Paragraph styles include both paragraph and character formatting (see Chapter 8, “Formatting Text”) and are ideal for applying to layout items such as body text or captions.

Creating Paragraph Styles

You can set up a paragraph style in three ways: from scratch, by basing the new style on preformatted text that you have selected, or by basing it on an existing style.

• To create a paragraph style from scratch (with no text attributes already set), make sure that you do not have any text selected in the document, and that you also do not have a paragraph style selected in the Paragraph Styles panel. Option+click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the Create New Style button located at the bottom of the Paragraph Styles panel.

• To create a paragraph style that starts out inheriting all the attributes of some text that has already been formatted locally, insert the Type tool cursor anywhere in the paragraph, then Option+click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the Create New Style button at the bottom of the Paragraph Styles panel. This is the easiest way to create a new paragraph style. You can also access the New Paragraph Style Command from the paragraph style drop-down list in the Control Panel (click the paragraph icon to access the list).

• To create a paragraph style that starts out inheriting all the attributes of another style, highlight the existing style in the Paragraph Styles panel (make sure no text is selected), then click the Create New Style button or choose New Paragraph Style from the Paragraph Styles panel menu or Control panel drop-down list. Note that using this method makes the style chosen in the Paragraph Styles panel the new document default.

When using any of these methods to create a paragraph style, InDesign displays the New Paragraph Style dialog box. Each of the panels in this dialog box mirrors the formatting controls located throughout the interface (see Figure 9.3). You can access a panel by clicking its name in the menu to the left.

Figure 9.3. The New Paragraph Style dialog box enables you to specify which attributes you’d like to save as a paragraph style.

Unlike working with character styles, when you create a new paragraph style based on a paragraph that has been preformatted locally, InDesign automatically adds all the applied character and paragraph attributes from the selected paragraph to the new style.

Applying and Removing Paragraph Styles

To apply a paragraph style, insert the Type tool cursor anywhere in the paragraph and click the style name in the Paragraph Styles panel, or choose the style name from the Paragraph Styles drop-down list in the Control panel. When applying a paragraph style this way, InDesign retains local formatting undefined by the style, except when it applies to all the characters in the paragraph, in which case local formatting is removed.

To remove all local formatting (except applied character styles) as you apply a paragraph style, hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) as you click the style name in the Paragraph Styles panel.

To remove all local formatting (including applied character styles) hold down Option-Shift (Mac) or Alt+Shift (Win) as you apply the paragraph style.

After you apply it, the paragraph style becomes linked to the text. It can be removed only by choosing Break Link to Style from the Paragraph Styles panel menu, or by choosing No Paragraph Style from the Paragraph Styles drop-down list in the Control panel (see Figure 9.4).

Figure 9.4. The No Paragraph Style option is only accessible via the Paragraph Styles drop-down list in the Control panel.

When you break a paragraph style link, all stylized attributes become local and are not removed from the text. To reformat the paragraph using default attributes, apply the Basic Paragraph style.

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Applying Next Style

When you create a paragraph style, InDesign allows you to automatically assign and apply a different, preexisting style to the next paragraph following a carriage return. For example, if you create and apply a style for an item such as a pull quote (a short excerpt or quoted paragraph, inserted between or to one side of paragraphs of body text), you can set up your styles so that as you type, InDesign automatically applies the body text style to the next paragraph after the pull quote.

To apply Next Style, perform the following steps.

1. Select a style in the Paragraph Styles panel and choose Style Options from the panel menu.
2. In the General panel of the Character Styles Options dialog box, select another paragraph style from the Next Style menu (see Figure 9.5).

   Figure 9.5. Select the paragraph style from the Next Style menu.

   

3. Click OK and type your text.
4. When you press Return (Mac) or Enter (Win), InDesign automatically applies the chosen paragraph style to the next paragraph.

Creating Parent/Child Styles

InDesign allows you to create a style that is based on another style. When you do so, any shared attributes change dynamically throughout all the “children” whenever you edit the “parent” style. For example, you might want to create a “first paragraph” child version of a parent body copy style. The only difference between the “first paragraph” version and the parent body copy style might be the inclusion of an initial drop cap, or perhaps the lack of first line indent. If you decide later to edit any other parent attributes, such as font, point size, or leading, the child style is automatically updated to match the parent.

You can base all styles on another style of the same type. For example, a character style can be based on another character style but not on a paragraph style.

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Creating a “Child” Style

Follow these steps to create a new style based on an existing style:

1. Access the New Character Style or New Paragraph Style dialog box from the respective Character Style or Paragraph Style panel menu.
2. Click the General option and choose a parent style from the Based On drop-down list (see Figure 9.6).

   Figure 9.6. You choose a parent style from the Based On list.

   

3. Change any attributes that you do not want affected by edits made to the parent style.
4. Click OK to add the new style to the respective panel list.

Creating and Applying Nested Styles

With nested styles, you can automatically format a paragraph using several character styles. Rather than apply multiple character styles one at a time, you can select multiple lines and/or paragraphs of text and apply the styles all at once.

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Creating and Applying a Nested Style

To create and apply a nested style using local formatting, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Type tool cursor anywhere in the paragraph and choose Drop Caps and Nested Styles from the Paragraph panel menu or Control panel menu.
2. In the Nested Styles area of the Drop Caps and Nested Styles dialog box that appears, click the New Nested Style button.
3. From the drop-down list that appears on the left, choose a character style to apply to the initial characters of the nested style (see Figure 9.7).

   Figure 9.7. Choose a character style from the Nested Styles drop-down list.

   

4. Click the word to the right of the character style list to activate a second drop-down list. Choose Through to apply the selected character style up to and including the specified characters. Choose Up To to apply the style up to but not including the specified characters.
5. Click the number to the right of the Through/Up To list to activate the data field. Enter the number of characters you’d like to apply the character style to.
6. Click the field at the far right to activate the character menu/data field. Choose a delimiting character from the drop-down list or enter one in the data field. The delimiting character is what tells InDesign where to stop applying the character style.
7. To continue adding nested styles, click the New Nested Style button again and repeat steps 3–6. Check the Preview option in the dialog box to see the nested styles applied as you create them.
8. Click OK to apply the nested style to the selection.

Nested styles become even more powerful when you save them as part of a paragraph style. To do this, open the Paragraph Style Options dialog box (or the New Paragraph Style dialog box) and choose the Drop Caps and Nested Styles panel (see Figure 9.8). Follow the preceding steps to add more formatting to a paragraph style than you ever realized you could.

Figure 9.8. You can also save nested styles as part of a paragraph style.

Using Quick Apply

After you save a lot of styles in a document, it can take a really long time to scroll through the panels and find the one you want to apply. When this happens, try using the Quick Apply feature.

Click the Quick Apply button located on the upper right of the Control panel (see Figure 9.9). Then click the icon that resembles a lightning bolt, and it will bring up the Quick Apply panel. You can also choose Edit, Quick Apply to open the Quick Edit list. Type the name (or even just the first two letters) of the style you’re trying to locate in the search field. Quick Apply then displays any characters that match your search in the Quick Edit list (see Figure 9.10).

Figure 9.9. Click the Quick Apply button in the Control panel.

Figure 9.10. The Quick Apply feature offers you quick and easy access to styles.

After you locate the style, press Return (Mac) or Enter (Win) to apply it to your selection. Another way to access the Quick Apply feature is through the Paragraph Styles and Character Styles panels. If you look to the upper right of either panel and click the icon that resembles a lightning bolt, it brings up the Quick Apply panel. The Quick Edit list automatically closes after a style is applied. If you can’t find the style you’re looking for, press Esc or click the Quick Apply button to close the Quick Edit list.

Quick Apply also gives you quick and easy access to object styles, menu commands (visible or hidden), scripts, table styles, cell styles, text variables, and conditions.

Editing, Overriding, and Redefining Styles

InDesign enables you to edit the attribute settings you’ve saved as part of a style at any time. You can also add local formatting to stylized text, which is a process called applying local overrides. If you’d like to save the local formatting that you’ve added part of the style, you can do so by redefining the style.

Editing Styles

To edit a character or paragraph style by changing attribute settings in the Style Options dialog box, do one of the following:

• Press Shift-Opt-Cmd (Mac) or Shift+Alt+Ctrl (Win) and double-click the style name in the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel.

• Control-click (Mac) or right-click (Win) the style name in the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel and choose Style Options from the contextual menu.

Proceed to adjust the attribute settings located in the different panels of the Style Options dialog box (see Figure 9.11). After you click OK, the changes affect the text items wherever the style is applied in the document.

Figure 9.11. The Style Options dialog box enables you to edit stylized attributes.

Applying Overrides

You may be wondering why a plus sign (+) occasionally appears next to a style name in the Character Styles or Paragraph Style panel. When the plus icon appears, it means that the applied style for the current text selection has been overridden (see Figure 9.12). This happens anytime you apply local formatting to a stylized attribute. For example, if a leading value of 12pt is saved as part of a style, and you change the leading value of some text where that style is already applied, you have applied an override. When you select the text, the + symbol appears in the Character Styles or Paragraph Style panel to let you know that the override exists.

Figure 9.12. When formatting that is not a part of the style is applied to text with that style applied, the plus icon will appear next to it.

To remove all character or paragraph style overrides for a text selection, Option-click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the style name in the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel.

You can also remove paragraph style overrides by clicking the Clear Overrides button in the Paragraph Styles panel or its equivalent in the Control panel (see Figure 9.13). The Character Styles panel does not include a Clear Overrides button, however, there is a way you can clear character style overrides. Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Win) the Clear Overrides button in the Paragraph Styles panel or Control panel to clear the character overrides without clearing paragraph overrides.

Figure 9.13. Click the Clear Overrides button to remove any paragraph style overrides that are currently applied to the selected text.

Cmd-Shift click (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift click (Win) the Clear Overrides button to clear only the paragraph style overrides and leave any character overrides in effect.

For both character and paragraph styles, you can identify what overrides have been applied to the selected text by hovering the cursor over the style name in the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel; the ToolTip lists them for you, as shown in Figure 9.14.

Figure 9.14. You can refer to the ToolTip for a list of applied attributes that override the style.

Redefining Styles

You can also adopt local formatting as part of a style. To do so, select the stylized text and apply local formatting. Before you deselect the text, choose Redefine Style from the Character Styles panel (see Figure 9.15) or Paragraph Styles panel menu. InDesign adjusts the style to match.

Figure 9.15. You can also access the Redefine Style command from the Control panel drop-down list.

Working with Style Groups

The more styles you create, the harder it is to keep track of all of them in the Character Styles and Paragraph Styles panels. One way to help organize your styles is to group them into separate folders in the panel. You can even create subcategories of styles by nesting groups within groups.

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Creating a Style Group

To create a style group, apply the following steps:

1. To create a style group at the root level of the panel, make sure that you do not have any styles selected in the panel list and choose New Style Group from the panel menu.
2. In the New Style group dialog box that appears, enter a name for the group and click OK. When you do, InDesign adds the group folder to the panel.
3. Add styles to the group by dragging them into the folder (see Figure 9.16).

   Figure 9.16. Drag styles into the folder to add them to the group.

   

4. Reorganize styles at any time by dragging them to a different group or to the root level of the panel.

You can also add styles to a group as you create it. To do so, select the styles from the panel list and choose New Style Group from Styles from the panel menu. In the New Style group dialog box that appears, enter a name for the group and click OK. When you do, InDesign adds the group folder to the panel and automatically places the selected styles in the folder.

To expand or collapse a style group, click the triangle icon next to the style name in the panel. Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Win) the triangle icon to expand or collapse the style group and all its subgroups.

Deleting Styles

To delete a style, select Edit, Deselect All, or press Shift-Cmd-A (Mac) or Shift+Ctrl+A (Win) to avoid applying the style to a selection. Select the style from the panel and click the Delete Selected Style button at the bottom of the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel (see Figure 9.17). You can also choose the Delete Style command from the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel menu, or drag the style over the Delete Selected Style trash icon.

Figure 9.17. Click the Delete Selected Style trash icon to delete the style(s).

To delete multiple styles at a time, Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl+click Win) the styles in the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel and use one of the methods described previously. Shift+click to select and delete consecutive styles.

When deleting a style that is in use, InDesign displays a dialog box asking you what you would like to replace the style with. Choose a replacement style from the drop-down list and click OK.

If you are replacing a deleted style with No Paragraph Style or None (character style), you can keep the formatting applied by enabling the Preserve Formatting option in the Delete Style dialog box before clicking OK (see Figure 9.18). When you do, InDesign preserves the deleted style’s formatting as local formatting.

Figure 9.18. Keep the formatting applied by enabling the Preserve Formatting option.

Importing Styles

You can implement your favorite styles and style groups in other InDesign documents by importing them via the Load Styles feature.

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Importing One or More Styles into a Document

To import character or paragraph styles, apply the following steps:

1. Choose Load Styles from the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel menu.
2. When the Open a File dialog box appears, locate and select the document containing the styles you’d like to import.
3. Click the Open button to access the Load Styles dialog box.
4. The Load Styles dialog box displays a list of available styles. Check the boxes next to the styles that you’d like to import (see Figure 9.19). You can also use the Check All or Uncheck All buttons.

   Figure 9.19. In the Load Styles dialog box, check the boxes next to the styles that you’d like to import.

   

5. Tell InDesign how you’d like to handle conflicting style names in the Conflict with Existing Style column of the Load Styles dialog box. If a style conflict exists, the column displays an option. To change the option, select the style and choose Auto-Rename or Use Incoming Style Definition from the drop-down list that appears in the column (see Figure 9.20). Style differences are listed in the Incoming Style Definition and Existing Style Definition sections of the Load Styles dialog box.

   Figure 9.20. You can choose how you’d like to handle conflicting style names in the Conflict with Existing Style column of the Load Styles dialog box.

   

6. Click OK. That’s all there is to it! InDesign displays the imported styles in the panel.

To import all the character and paragraph styles from a specific document, choose Load All Styles from the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel menu.

InDesign also adds styles to a document when you copy/paste or drag and drop, stylized text or objects from one InDesign document to another. If a style of the same name already exists, the added style is overridden by the existing style.