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When I'm creating a document, I always split each section and each paragraph style in an individual text box. Mainly so I'm able to edit each item individually.

However, my question: Is it recommended to combine each into one text box spread over multiple pages, having both headers and body text in the same text box or split over individual text boxes, like I was already doing?

Thank you!

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This varies enormously depending on the document and the workflow.

  • Brochure, where each page is a thought independent of the next page: break up each headline and text box so they aren't linked to anything else.
  • Brochure, where each spread is a thought: headline gets a box, all the text boxes on that spread are linked, but don't link it to the next spread.
  • Annual report: I'd make headlines independent and all the text boxes in each section linked (but not link sections to each other).
  • Flyer or fact sheet, one or two sides: every text box is independent.
  • Advertisement: every text box is independent.
  • Book: everything but the chapter heads and header/footer is linked. Maybe even the chapter heads are linked if you set up the styles right.
  • Business cards, one-shot: every text box is independent.
  • BUT Business cards, repeat job: you might want to link all the boxes so you can import copy from a pre-styled text source so the styles apply automatically, and populate all the cards in one go.

There's no single best practice because there are too many design setups and too many reasons to import and style text.

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Using and adjusting paragraph styles is your time saver.

Being able to adjust a style is much more efficient than manually adjusting many boxes across your document. You will probably have to use individual boxes in places were you have a specific layout need, but your overall goal should be to get comfortable with using styles as much as you can, especially with any long document.

Get comfortable with adjusting the style settings to get the spacing you like, then set the styles with keyboard shortcuts. When you get it set-up well, you can churn right through a document applying styles with your shortcuts, or even better, map the styles when you import your text documents or mail merge file.

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  • Based upon your answer, I think my explanation was a bit off. You perfectly describe what I recently learned; using paragraph styles. Indeed, this saves up a lot of time and makes your document much more well designed and in balance. However, I'm actually wondering if you should split each section that has a different style into a text box. I.E., should I put "h1, body, h2, body, h2, body, h3, body, h3, body" into one single text body, or should they be split in a text box for each of them? Please refer to this screenshot as they are explanations of both workflows. imgur.com/YGZSFgl
    – Sander Schaeffer
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 15:00
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    You would have to have a specific reason to want to use boxes. Also think of flexibility. In your second example, if you were to tweek the spacing of your styles even a little bit, you would have to re-adjust all your boxes. Having one text box, and using styles for the spacing maintains flexibility without breaking your layout.
    – Rsiel
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 16:01

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