Text Shadows in Fixed-Layout EPUB

Want text shadows to appear in an EPUB exported from InDesign? You need to know this trick.

Quick tip: If you want drop shadows to appear under text in a fixed-layout EPUB, you have to pay attention to how the drop shadow is set up, otherwise it will not show up in the EPUB.

Consider the following page:

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Two text frames, identical in every way except how the drop shadow is applied.

Export the document to Fixed-Layout EPUB. And here’s what you get:

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Why did the shadow disappear on the left text frame? Because it was applied to the frame itself.

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In the example on the right, the drop shadow was applied directly to the text, using the controls in the Effects panel.

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Note that this only applies to fixed-layout EPUB, text drop shadows don’t export to reflowable EPUB. But if you’re exporting to Publish Online, either method works fine.

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This article was last modified on July 25, 2019

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