Tip of the Week: Applying Seamless Shading to Consecutive Paragraphs

Four ways to apply seamless shading behind consecutive paragraphs in InDesign CC.

This InDesign tip on Applying Seamless Shading to Consecutive Paragraphs was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on March 29, 2018.

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If you’re using InDesign CC 2015 or later, you can apply shading to paragraphs. However, depending on the font and spacing you use, you may see a gap in shading applied to consecutive paragraphs.

InDesign paragraph shading gap

There are a few ways to fix this.
  • Use a different font or decrease the space between paragraphs.

In the Paragraph Borders and Shading dialog box, do any of the following:

  • Increase the Offsets values.

InDesign paragraph shading offset

  • Set the Top Edge of the shading to align to the Leading.

InDesign paragraph shading top alignment

Add a border. If you don’t want the border to be visible, make its Stroke width zero. Then (and this is the key), select the option to Merge Consecutive Borders and Shading. This is a new option in InDesign CC 2018.1.

InDesign merge consecutive paragraph shading

 

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This article was last modified on July 20, 2021

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