Yeah I missed it because it seem too simple…stupid me, and apologies to you. :/

Thanks for your help, very effective! And the tutorial on pattern groups and look-ahead/behind I'll save for the next time I get hung-up on that idea. Will also be handy in MailSmith. :)

1…em-dashes do not have a space on either side, technically. They should be typed glyph+em-dash+glyph. With a good font this works just fine. With lesser-quality fonts, this doesn't work so well, hence my question. In retrospect, switching from Metrics to Optical might work, but this GREP line of thought is still worth pursuing for some fonts.

2…It's a matter of time—specifically, rushing. Solving problems is my job (depending on the hat I have on at the time), and giving them a “just do this in GREP Styles” is one thing. Asking them to remember to do a GREP Search just before the job goes to production (and hope someone down the line doesn't edit or fiddle with it as it passes through multiple other hands on the way) is asking a bit much in our workflow.

“Magic” solutions no one thinks twice about. If they have to do it manually, it'll never happen or will happen wrong. ;)

You'd probably have to work here to understand why “search and replace” tips aren't viable here—solutions have to be automated and survive passing through alot of hands and stay correct at every stage (let's not confuse the proofreaders…). I have to admit even *I* wouldn't remember to do last-minute Search/Replace solutions when someone is breathing down my neck for the printouts…

You got it. I understand the dangers of “hiding” or “automagically” making corrections of these kinds. But on the other hand, the only people here who will even touch GREP-anything are the power-users, and what I'm looking at is a power-user solution. ;)

I've been cruising the GREP threads here, but haven't bumped into the one you refer to…can you provide a URL, you have me curious. :)

Your tracking idea is a good one, and I just did a quick test, and what would be needed was a pattern search like this:

find: a glyph followed by an em-dash followed by a glyph

apply: character style to the em-dash and the preceding glyph (since the tracking only applies to the space after a glyph when highlighting a single glyph)

I've not quite wrapped my head around “look for this pattern but only apply the character style to these sub-elements of what you found”…any kind souls willing to point me in the right direction?

1…em-dashes do not have a space on either side, technically. They should be typed glyph+em-dash+glyph. With a good font this works just fine. With lesser-quality fonts, this doesn't work so well, hence my question. In retrospect, switching from Metrics to Optical might work, but this GREP line of thought is still worth pursuing for some fonts.

2…It's a matter of time—specifically, rushing. Solving problems is my job (depending on the hat I have on at the time), and giving them a “just do this in GREP Styles” is one thing. Asking them to remember to do a GREP Search just before the job goes to production (and hope someone down the line doesn't edit or fiddle with it as it passes through multiple other hands on the way) is asking a bit much in our workflow.

“Magic” solutions no one thinks twice about. If they have to do it manually, it'll never happen or will happen wrong. ;)

You'd probably have to work here to understand why “search and replace” tips aren't viable here—solutions have to be automated and survive passing through alot of hands and stay correct at every stage (let's not confuse the proofreaders…). I have to admit even *I* wouldn't remember to do last-minute Search/Replace solutions when someone is breathing down my neck for the printouts…

You got it. I understand the dangers of “hiding” or “automagically” making corrections of these kinds. But on the other hand, the only people here who will even touch GREP-anything are the power-users, and what I'm looking at is a power-user solution. ;)

I've been cruising the GREP threads here, but haven't bumped into the one you refer to…can you provide a URL, you have me curious. :)

Your tracking idea is a good one, and I just did a quick test, and what would be needed was a pattern search like this:

find: a glyph followed by an em-dash followed by a glyph

apply: character style to the em-dash and the preceding glyph (since the tracking only applies to the space after a glyph when highlighting a single glyph)

I've not quite wrapped my head around “look for this pattern but only apply the character style to these sub-elements of what you found”…any kind souls willing to point me in the right direction?