Base a Paragraph Style on a Character Style

Colin wrote:

I’ve created several character styles, but now I want them to be paragraph styles instead. Is it possible to do a conversion or do I have to build new paragraph styles? Or… is possible to create paragraph styles based on character styles?

I wish we could base paragraph styles on character styles, but alas, you cannot… at least, not directly. And you cannot really convert a character style into a paragraph style. But there are two tricks you should know about that will help you.

First, you can create a new paragraph style based on a character style by placing the text cursor in some text tagged with the character style when you make your paragraph style. That is:

1. Apply the character style to some text.
2. Place the cursor in that text.
3. Create a new paragraph style in the Paragraph Styles panel. All the character formatting of that character style will be “sucked up” into the paragraph style you’re making.

After you apply the paragraph styles throughout your document, you can delete the character style from the Character Styles panel. When it asks you what to use instead of that character style, just tell it “None.”

Using Nested Styles

You can also fake a “based on” relationship between a paragraph style and a character style with nested styles.

1. Create a new paragraph style.
2. In the Nested Styles pane of the New Paragraph Styles dialog box, click New Nested Style.
3. Choose your character style from the pop-up menu in the nested style field.
4. Click on the word “Words” to activate that field.
5. Type some character that you’re sure doesn’t appear in any of your text, such as ¶ or ?.
6. Click OK to save the paragraph style, then apply it to some text.

Because the character you typed in step 5 doesn’t appear in the paragraph, the character style is assigned throughout the entire paragraph, overriding any character formatting defined in the paragraph style. If you later edit the character style definition, it’s updated in the paragraph style, too.

Of course, this won’t really work if you’re using nested styles in a paragraph already, but for many people it’s just the ticket for basing paragraph styles on a character style.

Comments (15)

Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Loading comments...