M.F. wrote to ask:
I am looking to add some predefined text before a paragraph of a given style. For example, any paragraph set to the style should start with “Sponsored by:”
I love this kind of automation, because it turns out that it’s quite easy to do, and it can save a huge amount of time. No, it doesn’t require grep or scripting. It’s far easier, but it requires thinking outside the box. The solution uses automatic paragraph numbering.
Here’s the thing: Just because it’s called paragraph numbering doesn’t mean you have to use it for numbering! For example, here’s a paragraph style that should work for you (I cropped it so that you could see the important info well):
See how I have changed the Number field to “Sponsored by “? There is no numbering in there, but whenever you apply this paragraph style, all the text will get the text you want at the front. Here’s an example in which the first three paragraphs have been styled with the paragraph style:
Of course, the great thing about this is that it’s easy to edit later… just change the paragraph style!
I wrote an article in InDesign Magazine (issue 38, I think) about how you can use a similar trick to add visual icons to the beginning of each line.
This article was last modified on December 21, 2021
This article was first published on March 19, 2012
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