Editing Type with Keyboard Shortcuts in Adobe InDesign

This tutorial introduces essential keyboard shortcuts and features in Adobe InDesign designed to enhance efficiency. The story editor is highlighted as a particularly valuable tool for managing text alongside images, streamlining the workflow. These techniques aim to improve productivity by saving time and effort when working on design projects.

InDesign's Story Editor simplifies text management by displaying content without layout constraints, such as columns. By pressing Command Y or Control Y on a selected type area, users can view the entire text and its paragraph styles in an uncluttered format. This feature is particularly useful for identifying overset text that doesn't fit within a frame, showing exactly where visible characters end and how much additional content remains to be adjusted. Additionally, selections made in either the layout view or story editor are mirrored between both views for seamless editing.

Keyboard shortcuts enhance text editing efficiency by enabling quick navigation and selection. Holding Alt or Option allows layout movement while typing, bypassing the spacebar's default function of adding spaces. Arrow keys navigate lines, with Command/Control modifiers jumping between words or paragraphs; Shift adds selection capabilities to these movements. Mouse clicks also aid in selections: double-click selects a word, triple-click selects a line, quadruple-click grabs a paragraph, and quintuple-click captures an entire story—though Command/Control+A is faster for selecting all content.

Keyboard shortcuts provide a quick way to format text, such as bold (Command/Ctrl+Shift+B), italic (Command/Ctrl+Shift+I), and underline (Command/Ctrl+Shift+U). Font size can be adjusted using Command or Ctrl + Shift + Period/Comma for increasing or decreasing by default increments of two points, which can be customized in Preferences under Units and Increments. Uppercase conversion is easily toggled on/off via Command or Ctrl + Shift + K without relying on Caps Lock. Paragraph styles like font weight, color, and size adjustments can also have custom keyboard shortcuts assigned through the Paragraph Styles menu for efficient application across texts.

Adjusting text spacing, such as letting (line distance) or baseline shift, can be done using keyboard shortcuts. Holding Alt with arrow keys changes the letting; adding Shift adjusts the baseline of selected words. Special characters are visible by toggling Normal View with 'W' and pressing Command+Alt+I to show/hide them. Frame resizing ensures all text fits perfectly—double-clicking control points expands or contracts frames accordingly for efficiency. Drag-and-drop editing is enabled through preferences under Type Options, allowing seamless movement of text within layout view.

Autocorrect can significantly speed up typing by automatically correcting text and formatting. For instance, typing "indesign" in lowercase followed by a space changes it to "Adobe InDesign," properly formatted. This feature is customizable under Preferences, where users can enable autocorrect for their language and add specific shortcuts like converting 'AI' into 'Adobe Illustrator CS6.' It also corrects common typos such as changing "CNA" to "can." Utilizing these features saves time and enhances productivity.