You have four text frames selected with the Selection tool and you want to change the font in all four of them at the same time. You need the Character panel open, right? Because when you have the Selection tool chosen in the Tool panel, the Control panel displays settings for the object (in this case, a group of objects), rather than Type controls. The Character and Paragraph panels always show you text controls, though.
But I don’t like keeping those panels open. They take up too much space on an already-crowded screen. So what’s a guy to do?
Just press “T”.
The T key switches to the Type tool, and when the Type tool is selected in the Tool panel, the Control panel suddenly changes to show you character and paragraph formatting! No need for those other panels anymore.
So does that mean there is simply no reason to ever open the Character and Paragraph panel? Why doesn’t Adobe just get rid of those panels entirely? Here are several reasons for Adobe not to do that:
- Redundancy is good. Having more than one way to do the same thing in InDesign actually increases efficiency.
- Many InDesign users haven’t read this blog post, so they don’t know about the “T” trick.
- The Paragraph panel offers one horizontal alignment feature that the Control panel doesn’t offer: Justify with Last Line Aligned Right. (Thanks Haeme for pointing that out.)
- The Control panel doesn’t always show you the text controls you want. For example, if you select a row or column in a table, the Control panel menu displays table-related features rather than text-related features. That means you cannot apply OpenType formatting (such as Fractions) to all the selected cells. The Character panel flyout menu still offers those features, though.
There may be other reasons you want to keep the Character and Paragraph panels around. Share them below if you think of any. But I still maintain that using these panels should be the exception rather than the rule. In general, the Control panel gives you what you want, when you need it… just press T.
This article was last modified on December 19, 2021
This article was first published on May 8, 2009
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@Mike
You can edit whatever parameter of Pharagraph style and than choose Redefine style or hit shit+alt+command+R for P style and shit+alt+command+C for C style.
very handy and you dont need enormous modal panel:)
The only time I open the character or paragraph panels is when I want to turn off Paragraph Composer (or turn it back on).
But maybe someone knows a quicker way of doing it rather than opening up panels?
(I should add that I never have any panels open on my screen apart from the control panel. I just turn certain panels on when needed.)
For some odd reason I never have problems with panels. Indesign gives the designer a lot of tools to work with, in a very easy environment. Everything you need is there.
The way I work is simple: first check the files you need and alter them so you can work with them, arrange them neatly in folders. Then do your design and fit it in Indesign (styles, styles, styles). Keep it as clean as possible, a few headings, text, lists, captions or whatever you need. Let Indesign work for you (numbering, references, contents, indexing, grep, etc.). It’s all in the preparation, about 10% of the time you need to finish a product. The ugly 90% is then easy, call it the Framemaker-way. If you have to mess with your design, rethink your design.
I never have to struggle with panels, only use the ones I need, neatly in the right upper corner (another form of preparation).
Indesign is a tool you should use properly. It’s all about graphic design and the capabilities of the designer. Not Indesign should determine the design, the designer must. But Indesign is a very, very good tool.
Even though I have a widescreen monitor I still value real estate. Thanks to David and Anne-Marie’s Lynda.com videos (cheap plug) I took the time to learn the Tools shortcuts (now gone from my screen). And removed the Paragraph and Character menus. It’s great to be able to have more room to work, especially when I move to my laptop where space really is a premium.
I flit between a two screen set up and a laptop, so my methodology it that I have all the palettes I need arranged from top to bottom with key presses which go down from f12 to about f5 with modifiers, then on the big screen it switches focus to the right one – and this helps with getting correct things done, one palette for one job is a good discipline, while working on the laptop once a setting is set, press the key combination again and it neatly goes back into the side bar, making the space lovely and clutter free once again. Same shortcuts on both, different results.
Redundancy is a BRILLIANT thing. If only they could do it to Publisher, then we could start training the world on how to do things properly.
Interesting tip!
With regards to type tools in the control panel, I always add cmd-ctrl-Tab as a shortcut to toggle between Character and Paragraph formatting too.
The last two years I had two monitors full off panels.
Since this year I work only with the advanced workscpace.
Davids descriped workflow is another way to work with indesign, not only in the character panel.
Every time I use a shortcut for a panel > it activates the panel and it´s easy for me to take my changes.
This article is almost brings up one of my primary gripes about InDesign, one that goes into the “Why can’t InDesign be more like FrameMaker?” category.
In FrameMaker the panel that let you change paragraph style parameters could stay open all the time. Select a paragraph with the Body style and it was there displaying the paragraph’s parameters (handy in itself) and waiting to let you edit the Body style. Select one with the Heading 1 style, and it was ready to let you edit that style. Quick, easy and helpful. And the window was compact.
Not so InDesign. The panel that edits paragraph styles is a nasty, outsized little egotist. When it’s displayed, it demands all your attention. You can’t do anything else without closing it. To edit six styles, you must open and close the panel six times, navigating each time to the subpanel you want, and taking care not to do so in a way that applies the wrong paragraph style to a panel.
I think the technical term for this is modal. Like Microsoft Word, InDesign is far too modal. To change a paragraph style, you have to get into a mode where you can do nothing but that. That’s a time-wasting nuisance.
People with smaller screen resolution might suffer cause not all the options will be available in the control panel… In general though, I say the less panels the better.
Also, there needs to be better transparency for people using InDesign so they can get better efficiency from the product and decide why to use one feature when compared to another. The average joe doesn’t take the time to dig into InDesign. How then do you educate people to look deeper when you take features away from them.
From a sales point of view its a nightmare…
Rich I love your post… 3 monitors would make things tons more easy as far as monitor real estate. I wish I could have just one extra monitor. I think have monitor envy.
I find a better solution to this is using the amazing quick apply feature. Just a couple key strokes and you are applying styles like that hip trend setter back in high school. It is nice that it remembers the last style you used as well. I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to simply hit Command+return – return. Very rhythmic and satisfying.
mmm hmm Command+return – return. mm hmm Command+return – return. OH YEAH…
it is time you learn Command+return – return.
sorry for 80’s rap.
I also use cmd-option-7 to cycle through Character and Paragraph modes in Control Panel
I like having numerous panels open, as well as the control panel. I can’t say specifically why, I just do — it’s simply part of the way I work most efficiently.
Because I use 3 monitors, I dedicate 1 monitor to the spread and make use of the real estate on the other 2 monitors for the panels and Bridge. I also find that using monitors that can rotate between landscape and portrait helps my workflow.
It’s very rare that I’d use the panels as I set type I apply character and paragraph styles through the control panel. That’s the advantage of having a large screen, or high resolution monitor, that the wider the control panel is the more it can fit.
And I only ever edit the paragraph and character styles if I need something done in a hurry.
I would very rarely select all the text frames and hit T and change the point size, that would wreck my paragraph and character styles etc.
But the good news is I don’t want to see the Character and Paragraph Panels go away. But if I wanted to I could close those panels and save my workspace and I’d never see them again. But I wouldn’t do that.
I have however separated the paragraph and character styles into a grouped panel of its own and also the character and paragraph panels in groups of their own.