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• • March 26, 2019 at 3:22 pm #115560
    Mike Z

    Member

    I have a monthly newsletter that was previously done in Quark that I am converting to InDesign. I have set up different paragraph styles for different repeating stories that have the same basic fonts but different sizes and leading.
    My problem is with the italic survey names which are within stories that get pasted from Word. In Quark, it was easy to just select each name I want to italicize or bold and Cont(Com)-I or B. This is the equivalent of clicking on the I or B in the Quark’s control pallet. In InDesign you must select the name and manually change the font/style.
    Different stories have different type sizes but I tried to make a character style from a test line of type that was the same font and style but with different sizes. When you make the character style it ends up all being the same size. Is there no way to make a character style than only changes the font (i.e plain to italic) without changing the size?
    Thanks,
    Mike

  • March 26, 2019 at 3:28 pm #115561
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Yes, character styles can apply a font without style (or vice versa). Just leave the fields blank that you want InDesign to ignore.

    And I’m not sure what the problem is with Command-Shift-I… that works for me:
    

  • March 26, 2019 at 7:09 pm #115563
    Mike Z

    Member

    Thanks for the tips. I was using Command-I instead of Command-Shift-I.
    I must have had some text selected when I tried creating a Character Style with only italic because it would not let me clear the size. With no text selection I was able to create a working Character Style.

    I tried adding a shortcut to the new char style since I prefer a 2 finger shortcut for the left hand so I can mouse select with the right. For some reason I can’t seem to get a shortcut to set in either the character style or paragraph style. I tried the Mac ID CS4 and also my PC ID CS5.5. Don’t know why I just get the warning sound on both version when typing a shortcut because I have used them in the past.

  • March 27, 2019 at 7:54 am #115565
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Shortcuts can only be on a number keypad… yes, that is a frustrating limitation:
    https://creativepro.com/no-you-cant-use-f-keys-for-style-shortcuts.php

  • March 27, 2019 at 8:17 am #115567
    Jeremy Howard

    Participant

    Ah, David beat me to it, I was going to mention the numberpad limitation on the style sheet shortcuts =)

    Note that you can create style sheet shortcuts using command/control + num, option/alt + num or command + option + num/control + alt + num. If I am setting up a complex template then I will often assign “command + num” shortcuts to paragraph styles, “option + num” shortcuts to character styles and “command + option + num” shortcuts to object styles.

    Another piece of advice, to try to help keep your sanity intact: When attempting to make a character style that only changes one property (only the font, in your case) make sure that you don’t have any page items selected and make sure that you have “[None]” selected in your character styles panel before you click “create new character style”. If you have an existing character style selected when you create a new character style then the new character style will contain properties that were specified in the style you had selected.

    Selecting “[None]” before creating a new style will give a completely clean style that has no properties set.

  • March 27, 2019 at 4:19 pm #115601
    Mike Z

    Member

    Thanks for all the help guys!
    I’ll just use the floating character style pallet since Com-Shift-I is awkward with the left hand now that I got the italic only char style settled.

    One thing I’d like to do converting this newsletter to InDesign is use Anchored or Inline graphics so my placed PDF charts and tables will reflow with the text. Are anchored and inline graphics really the same thing in CS4-6? I currently have them pasted above the text with a text wrap top and bottom but often have to change the font size and leading to fit the stories so they need to be moved up/down manually.

  • March 27, 2019 at 5:20 pm #115602
    Jeremy Howard

    Participant

    I am not super familiar with versions of InDesign prior to 5 but I know that since 5, the anchored object controls have been more or less the same. If you want the images to reflow and stick with a particular paragraph/set of paragraphs then I absolutely recommend using anchored objects. There are lots of tutorials out there but I have found that thoughtful experimentation with the anchored objects options is the quickest and surest way to learn.

    If you want to jump-start your understanding and get an idea on where to begin then check out InDesign Magazine issue 117, it contains a great deal of info about anchored images/frames.

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