1

I just want there to be even leading between lines in my text box, but the leading between the first two lines is always greater even when I change the leading from Auto to a fixed number. I have also revealed hidden characters and there are Paragraphs between all my lines, so it isn't like a soft return issue. Not sure what is going on. Thanks!enter image description here

Sorry the text changed but I have the same problem here. I have attached images of me selecting all of the text including special characters in case you think I am fibbing you.enter image description here enter image description here

2
  • so it is a soft return thing but I still don't understand the behavior. It has to do with the Paragraphs after each line. It groups two lines together and then has additionally spacing after two lines that both end after a Paragraph symbol. what the heck is that about?
    – Thalatta
    Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 21:02
  • when I make the end of every line a soft return then there is consistent spacing.
    – Thalatta
    Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 21:02

1 Answer 1

3

Looking at your screenshot, you have a couple of discretionary line breaks after the second date which are a different point size from the text. "What's that got to do with it?" I hear you cry. The answer is that in InDesign, leading is a character attribute rather than a paragraph attribute. One character with larger-than-the-rest leading will affect the entire line.

Here's InDesign's hidden character secret: any character in InDesign, including a number of special characters that are normally hidden, has formatting applied, including point size and leading.

The paragraph mark is the even-more-special character. It stores the formatting for an entire paragraph and its own formatting as a character. If you reduce the point size of some text by highlighting it and changing in the Character Panel, but you haven't selected the paragraph mark (a very easy mistake to make), the visible text will change but the leading on the last line won't. Because leading is a character attribute, the whole last line will retain the larger leading value of that hidden paragraph mark. (That's why one of the telltale signs of a layout created in InDesign is extra leading on the last line of a paragraph.)

The same applies to other hidden characters, and to non-printing characters such as spaces. A 10/12 line with a 12/14.4 space somewhere in it will use a leading value of 14.4.

Whenever you have baffling line spacing issues, select ALL the text including the hidden paragraph mark just after the last visible character and explicitly set the point size and/or leading (which will be blank in the Character Panel, indicating that multiple values have been selected).

In Preferences > Type you can turn this character by character behavior off by checking Apply leading to entire paragraphs, in which case InDesign will override the character leading and use the value stored in the paragraph mark for the whole paragraph.

3
  • 1
    That makes so much sense. Thank you Alan, patron-saint-of-graphic-design!
    – Thalatta
    Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 23:45
  • I cannot find the Preferences tab. I also tried selecting all of the text(including the Paragraph symbols) and explicitly changing the text size and leading but it still didn't change. Any ideas?
    – Thalatta
    Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 23:52
  • 1
    @Thalatta (1) Preferences are under the InDesign menu, all the way to the left (Apple-K on the Mac). (2) Strip out all paragraph styling and character styling. (3) Make sure you don't have a space-before or a space-after set somewhere. (4) If all else fails, open a new document and try typing in that one. If it works in the new document, you have a document-level problem. Recreate the document. (5) Stop using Auto Leading. Always use real numbers. Don't let the program do the thinking for you. Commented Jun 5, 2014 at 0:43

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.