How to Find Overset Text in InDesign Fast

InDesign tells you that you have some overset text, but sometimes it's hard to find if you don't know where to look

Erin wrote:

When I try to export, InDesign advised me that there is overset text on a few pages — and I go to the pages and can not locate any overset text. How can I find it?

Excellent question, Erin! The trick is the Preflight panel. Whenever there is overset text, you will probably see a red circle in the lower-left corner of the document window, along with the number of errors your document has:

overset text error

I say “probably” because there’s a tiny possibility that you have turned off Preflight, or that you’re using a preflight profile that doesn’t check for overset text, but for 99% of users, preflight is active and checking for overset. Anyway…

You can double-click that red circle to display the Preflight panel (or you can find the panel in the Window menu, of course). The Preflight panel will show that you have a “text” error. Hold down the Option/Alt key and click the “expand” triangle, and you’ll see all the text problems, including the oversets.

overset text in preflight

And here’s the good part: In the right column is a page number, and if you click that page number, it’ll take you right to the offending story!

More Resources To Master InDesign

The InDesign Conference is coming to a screen near you—hosted entirely online, December 9–12, 2025.

Join the world’s most knowledgeable InDesign experts as they share their wisdom, tips, and techniques for building documents of every size and format.

LEARN MORE

Members get a special discount on registration! Sign up today.

Bookmark
Please login to bookmark Close

This article was last modified on January 25, 2024

Comments (41)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Loading comments...