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• • June 16, 2016 at 7:49 am #85829
    Mark Suggs

    Member

    I used to be able (Was it with PageMaker so long ago??) to use an en space with numbers in a table to align decimals without setting a decimal tab. When the final size of a table is yet to be determined, a center-aligned column is more flexible, or when there is only one oddball in the list, it’s a quick alignment. For example:
    1.2
    –3.4
    In a center-aligned column I could put an en space (now there is figure space) before the 1 (in place of the en dash for the minus) and the figures would shift over and align at the decimal (N representing the en space):
    N1.2
    –3.4

    Example 2:
    1.2*
    34.5
    In a left-aligned column an en space before the 1 fixes alignment. In a center-aligned column an en space before the one and another after the 5 (in place of the asterisk) would align these at the decimal:
    N1.2*
    34.5N
    But now InDesign does not recognize these fixed-width spaces as values in the line length when centered or right-aligned. They are treated (ignored) like regular word spaces.
    Is there a way (option, setting, alternate spacing character) to specify that ID not ignore these fixed-width spaces WHOSE WIDTHS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FIXED???

  • June 16, 2016 at 10:07 am #85836
    Ari Singer

    Member

    I think it has to do with Optical Margin Alignment. When Optical Margin Alignment is off, it aligns on the decimal properly when left-aligned, But when center-aligned or right-aligned, it does not.

    But when Optical Margin Alignment is on, it aligns on the decimal properly only when center-aligned, not when left- or right-aligned.

    So for aligning on right I don’t have a solution. But for center- or left-aligned, play around with the Optical Margin Alignment setting.

    To turn on Optical Margin Alignment, select anywhere in the story, and go to Window > Type & Tables > Story to open the Story panel, and make sure Optical Margin Alignment is checked.

    If you want to mix alignments in the story then you’ll have to do some work as Optical Margin Alignment affects the entire story, even the paragraphs that you want left-aligned. So to fix this, select the paragraphs that you want to left-align and not use Optical Margin Alignment, and from the Paragraph Panel’s flyout menu select Ignore Optical Margin. (Or even better yet, save it in a paragraph style. Its setting is found under the Indents and Spacing tab in the Paragraph Style Options dialog).

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