Recently Jerry asked,
“I’m using InDesign to lay out a book in which I would like to emphasize sentences or parts of sentences throughout the book by extending the line length beyond the boundaries of the rest of the paragraph.
Any ideas on how this could be achieved? I’d really appreciate your help.”
Three different methods come to mind when you are trying to create a reverse indent.
1. Indent everything except your call-out.
This is probably the easiest method to implement. The first step is to modify all of your styles to include a specific left or right indent. This will cause the everything in your layout to be indented. The second step is to create a call-out style that will have no indent at all. This will create the effect of a reverse indent. In the below screen shot I added a little more space before/after and put in a rule above/below to add extra attention to this block of text.
Advantage: It is easy to apply this to any given paragraph to create the desired effect.
Disadvantage: Every single other style in your document will have have to have an indent.
2. Single Cell Table
The next method can produce interesting results. The first step is to insert a single celled table. Place your cursor at the location in your text that you would like this to appear and go to the Table Menu > Insert Table. Choose 1 row and 1 column. I pasted in the call-out paragraph and changed the fill/stroke colors of the cell and text. Since tables have the unique property that allows them to extend beyond the right edge text frame, I was able to extend it a short distance to the right. While the rest of the body text was indented, I didn’t apply an indent to the table cell paragraph to create the reverse indent.
Advantage: The ability to have the frame extend beyond the right side of the frame, and the ability to highlight the background of any given paragraph.
Disadvantage: It can be time consuming to cut and paste paragraphs into separate cells.
3. Anchored Objects
Anchored objects allow for the greatest flexibility, but can be the most difficult to setup. The first step is to cut the call-out and place it inside its own text frame. Next, cut and paste the frame into the text flow. Select the frame and go to Object Menu > Anchored Object > Options and change the position to custom. Now that the position is custom you can place it anywhere you like on the page. Using text wrap you will be able to insure that it snugly fits underneath the previous and following paragraphs. To save time on future call-outs be sure to save your call-out as an object style, but don’t forget to modify your object style options to make sure you are applying the call-out paragraph style as well.
Advantages: The most flexible option for positioning.
Disadvantages: Cumbersome to setup and involves text wrap.
In conclusion I would probably end up using either the indent everything method if I want to keep things as simple and efficent as possible, but if I wanted to have more options for the look of my layout, anchored objects do provide the most possibilites.
This article was last modified on July 11, 2023
This article was first published on April 20, 2009
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