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Is there a possbility to nest vertical rulers in InDesign with a Paragraph Style?

My intended result looks like this:

text with nested vertical rulers

How do I make this in InDesign? I have found this trick to use Paragraph Shading to use it for a single level but I don't think this is going to work with nesting. The thing is that Paragraph Shading is a CC feature, and I'm still using CS6, so I can't test it.

It would be great if there is a style-based solution for this, for it's going to be used for a huge bulk of text.

I'm open to CC solutions, but a CS6 one would be even greater.

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  • Hi @Vincent, InDesign CS6 doesn't have Paragraph Shading, this feature appear at the CC 2015 version release. Do you want a Paragraph Shading answer or a CS6 trick? – Danielillo Nov 9 at 14:50
  • @Danielillo I know, that's why I'm open to solutions in both versions. – Vincent Nov 9 at 14:57
  • I'm researching this for a group I've been teaching InDesign. They are using CC, so they could use a Paragraph Shading trick while I myself couldn't. – Vincent Nov 9 at 14:58
  • Hi. I also use CS6 so I can't test my idea. But I'm thinking it might be possible to set paragraph borders combined with custom stroke styles: double stroke for level 2 and triple stroke for level 3. The idea is to make the borders perfectly overlapping each other. Using a transparency effect might be necessary in order to keep the different tints effect. I hate to suggest something that I can't test myself, but maybe Danielillo could give a try? ^^ – Vinny Nov 9 at 15:31
  • I don't think it's possible since the paragraphs don't usually have the same quantity of lines, so you can not define a fluctuating paragraph border width depending on the paragraph height. – Danielillo Nov 9 at 17:46
up vote 6 down vote accepted

Nested Paragraph Left Border

Nested Paragraph Left Border

The trick is making three paragraph styles with different left indents and borders. Each of these borders is one, two and three strokes that must match by setting the strokes width, the border width and the left offset.

First paragraph style

  • Set the first paragraph style with a left indent and a left paragraph border 1,8 pt width: BORDER_LEVEL_1 at the image.

First paragraph

Second paragraph style

  • The second paragraph style has a wider left indent and a wider left paragraph border, but with a custom Stroke Type.
  • From the Stroke Panel options menu, choose Strokes Styles > New Stroke Style and create a Stripe type style with two thin lines, in this example 5% width.

Stroke Styles

TWO LINES

  • At the Paragraph Style, change the Border Type for the TWO LINES stroke and modify the border width and the left offset until it matches with the first paragraph border.

Two lines paragraph style

Third paragraph style

  • Do the same as the second Paragraph Style, but with a custom Stroke Type with three lines.
  • From the Stroke Panel options menu, choose Strokes Styles > New Stroke Style and create a Stripe type style with three thin lines, in this example 2,5% width.

Three lines

  • At the Paragraph Style, change the Border Type for the THREE LINES stroke and modify the border width and the left offset until it matches with the first and second paragraph borders.

3th paragraph style

It may not be a simple job, you have to establish the paragraph border and stroke styles measures and percentages well, but it's something to do only once.

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  • I'm patient. Good to see that it's possible! – Vincent Nov 9 at 15:38
  • Great minds think alike :-) nice ! – Vinny Nov 9 at 16:16

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