Tip of the Week: Using Discretionary Line Breaks

How to use discretionary line breaks to avoid bad breaks when using en spaces and em spaces in InDesign.

This InDesign tip on using discretionary line breaks was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on January 11, 2018.

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InDesign treats special white space characters (such as em and en spaces) as nonbreaking. This can cause awkward breaks in some situations.

If you want to allow them to break at the end of the line, insert a Discretionary Line Break (from the Insert Break Character submenu, under the Type menu).

Not only will the awkward break be fixed…


…you’ll also be covered if the text is edited and you need the en space or em space to do its job.

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This article was last modified on July 20, 2021

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