Adobe InDesign

Keyboard Shortcuts
Excerpted from the InDesignSecrets.com Keyboard Shortcuts Poster

z Command (“Apple”)
U Option
X Shift

Documents
New Document zN Ctrl+N
New default document zUN Ctrl+Alt+N
Open zO Ctrl+O
Close zW Ctrl+W
Close all open documents zUXW Ctrl+Shift+Alt+W
Save zS Ctrl+S
Save all open documents zUXS Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S
Save As zXS Ctrl+Shift+S
Document Setup zUP Ctrl+Alt+P
Export zE Ctrl+E
General Preferences zK Ctrl+K
Rebuild Preferences (press during Ctrl z U X Ctrl+Shift+Alt
program launch until Alert appears)
Document History & Plug-in Info z About InDesign Ctrl+About InDesign

Layout Tasks
Add New Page zXP Ctrl+Shift+P
Place Text or Pictures zD Ctrl+D
Paste in Place zUXV Ctrl+Shift+Alt+V
Paste Into zU V Ctrl+Alt+V
Paste without Formatting zXV Ctrl+Shift+V
Select All zA Ctrl+A
Deselect All zXA Ctrl+Shift+A
Duplicate zUXD Ctrl+Shift+Alt+D
Duplicate manually U drag Alt+ drag
Override Master Page Item z X click Ctrl+Shift+ click

InDesignSecrets.com / InDesign Magazine 1

Tools Panel
Selection Tool V V
Direct Selection Tool A A
Pen Tool P P
Type Tool T T
Type on a Path Tool XT Shift+T
Line Tool \ \
Rectangle Frame Tool F F
Rectangle Tool M M
Ellipse Tool L L
Free Transform Tool E E
Temporary Hand Tool (press) U Spacebar Alt+Spacebar
Temporary Zoom Tool (press) z Spacebar Ctrl+Spacebar
Apply default fill and stroke colors D D
Swap fill and stroke activation X X
Swap fill and stroke colors XX Shift+X
Toggle color affects text/its frame J J
Apply color swatch , ,
Apply gradient swatch . .
Apply None swatch / / or Num /
Preview mode on/off W W

Object Editing
Edit Original U doubleclick Alt+doubleclick
Decrease size / scale by 1% z, Ctrl+,
Decrease size / scale by 5% zU, Ctrl+Alt+,
Increase size / scale by 1% z. Ctrl+.
Increase size / scale by 5% zU. Ctrl+Alt+.

Object Menu
Arrange: Send Backward/Forward z [ or ] Ctrl+[ or ]
Arrange: Send to Back/Front z X [ or ] Ctrl+Shift+[ or ]
Select Next Object Below z click, z U [ Ctrl+click, Ctrl+Alt+[
Group zG Ctrl+G

2 InDesignSecrets.com / InDesign Magazine

Object Menu
Ungroup zXG Ctrl+Shift+G
Lock Position zL Ctrl+L
Unlock Position zUL Ctrl+Alt+L
Text Frame Options zB Ctrl+B
Fitting: Center Content zXE Ctrl+Shift+E
Fitting: Fill Frame Proportionally zUXC Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C
Fitting: Fit Content Proportionally zUXE Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E
Fitting: Fit Frame to Content zUC Ctrl+Alt+C
Drop Shadow Effect zUM Ctrl+Alt+M
Clipping Path zUXK Ctrl+Shift+Alt+K

Text
Quick Apply z Return Ctrl+Enter
Redefine Paragraph Style UXzR Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C
Redefine Character Style UXzC Ctrl+Shift+Alt+R
Autoflow text (with loaded cursor) X click on page Shift+click on page
Edit in Story Editor zY Ctrl+Y
Check Spelling zI Ctrl+ I
Find/Change zF Ctrl+F
Find Next zUF Ctrl+Alt+F
Toggle Typographer’s Quotes Pref. UXz’ Ctrl+Shift+Alt+’
Create Outlines zXO Ctrl+Shift+O

Paragraph Formatting
Align center zXC Ctrl+Shift+C
Align justify zXJ Ctrl+Shift+J
Align left zXL Ctrl+Shift+L
Align right zXR Ctrl+Shift+R
Justification zUXJ Ctrl+Shift+Alt+J
Keep Options zUK Ctrl+Alt+K
Paragraph Rules zUJ Ctrl+Alt+J

InDesignSecrets.com / InDesign Magazine 3

Character Formatting
Bold zXB Ctrl+Shift+B
Italic zXI Ctrl+Shift+I
All Caps zXK Ctrl+Shift+K
Small Caps zXH Ctrl+Shift+H
Subscript zUX= Ctrl+Shift+Alt+=
Superscript zX= Ctrl+Shift+=
Increase/Decrease
Baseline shift U X Up/Down Arrow Alt+Shift+Up/Down Arr.
Baseline shift 5× z U X Up/Down Arrow Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Up/Down
Kerning/Tracking U Right/Left Arrow Alt+Right/Left Arrow
Kerning/Tracking 5× z U Right/Left Arrow Ctrl+Alt+Right/Left Arrow
Leading U Down/Up Arrow Alt+Down/Up Arrow
Leading 5× z U Down/Up Arrow Ctrl+Alt+Down/Up Arrow
Text point size z X . or , Ctrl+Shift+. or ,
Text point size 5× z U X . or , Ctrl+Shift+Alt+. or ,
Word space z U \ or Delete Ctrl+Alt+\ or Backspace
Word space 5× z U X \ or Delete Ctrl+Shift+Alt+\ or Bckspc

Text Navigation
Move to the start of the line Home Home
Move to end of the line End End
Move to beginning of story z Home Ctrl+Home
Move to the end of story z End Ctrl+End
Select current line zX\ Ctrl+Shift+\
Select to the start of the line X Home Shift+Home
Select to the end of the line X End Shift+End
Select to beginning of story z X Home Ctrl+Shift+Home
Select to end of story z X End Ctrl+Shift+End
Select all text in story zA Ctrl+A

Tables
Insert Table zUX T Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T
Insert Column zU9 Ctrl+Alt+9
Insert Row z9 Ctrl+9

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Tables
Delete Column X Delete Shift+Backspace
Delete Row z Delete Ctrl+Backspace
Table Options zUX B Ctrl+Shift+Alt+B
Cell Options zUB Ctrl+Alt+B
Select
Cell z/ Ctrl+/
Column zU3 Ctrl+Alt+3
Row z3 Ctrl+3
Table zUA Ctrl+Alt+A
Toggle Cell/Text Selection Escape Escape

Special Characters
Show/Hide Hidden Characters zUI Ctrl+Alt+I
Insert Break Character
Forced Line Break X Return Shift+Enter
Column Break Enter Num Enter
Page Break z Enter Ctrl+ Num Enter
Insert Special Character
Em Dash UX– Alt+Shift+ –
En Dash U– Alt+ –
Ellipsis U; Alt+ ;
Auto Page Number zUXN Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N
Discretionary Hyphen zX– Ctrl+Shift+–
Right Indent Tab X Tab Shift+Tab

Display Views
Zoom In z =, z Num + Ctrl+= or Ctrl+Num+
Zoom Out z –, z Num – Ctrl+ – or Ctrl+Num–
Fit Selection in Window zU= Ctrl+Alt+=
Fit Page in Window z0 Ctrl+0
Fit Spread in Window zU0 Ctrl+Alt+0
50% view scale z5 Ctrl+5
100% view scale (“Actual Size”) z1 Ctrl+1
200% view scale z2 Ctrl+2

InDesignSecrets.com / InDesign Magazine 5

Display Views
400% view scale z4 Ctrl+4
Toggle current/previous view scale zU2 Ctrl+Alt+2
High Quality Display Ctrl z U H Ctrl+Alt+H
Typical Display zUZ Ctrl+Alt+Z
Show/Hide Text Frame Threads zUY Ctrl+Alt+Y

Grids and Guides

Show/Hide Guides z; Ctrl+;
Show/Hide Smart Guides zU Ctrl+U
Show/Hide Baseline Grid zU’ Ctrl+Alt+’
Select all guides zUG Ctrl+Alt+G

Page Navigation
Go to Page zJ Ctrl+J
Next window z` Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+ `
Previous window zX` Ctrl+Shift+Tab,
Ctrl+Shift+`
First Page z X Page Up Ctrl+Shift+Page Up
Last Page z X Page Down Ctrl+Shift+Page Down
Next Page X Page Down Shift+Page Down
Previous Page X Page Up Shift+Page Up
First Spread U X Page Up, Home Home
Last Spread U X Page Dn., End End
Next Spread U Page Down Alt+Page Down
Previous Spread U Page Up Alt+Page Up
Go Back z Page Up Ctrl+Page Up
Go Forward z Page Down Ctrl+Page Down

Panels
Layers F7 F7
Links zXD Ctrl+Shift+D
Object Styles z F7 Ctrl+F7
Pages z F12 F12
Paragraph Styles z F11 F11
Preflight zUXF Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F

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Panels
Stroke z F10 F10
Swatches F5 F5
Tabs zXT Ctrl+Shift+T
Text Wrap zUW Ctrl+Alt+W
Show/Hide all panels Tab Tab
Activate last-used field in panels* zU` Ctrl+Alt+`
Jump to Control Panel z6 Ctrl+6
Switch Character and Paragraph zU7 Ctrl+Alt+7
Modes in Control Panel

InDesignSecrets.com / InDesign Magazine 7

 The InDesignSecrets Guide to
Special Characters in Adobe InDesign®
MAGNIFIED! These screen captures simulate 12 pt. type

WHITE SPACE
viewed at 800% zoom level for easier identification.

Normal Space Nonbreaking

width = letterspace Space1
defined by typeface width = normal space

Em Space Nonbreaking
width = pt. size of type Space (fixed
(24pt type, 24pt wide) width)2

Punctuation
En Space Space
width = 1/2 em space width = period, colon,
or exclamation point in
current typeface

Third Space Figure Space

width = numeral in
width = 1/3 em space
current typeface

Quarter Space Flush Space3

width = 1/4 em space width varies

Notes:
Sixth Space 1. In InDesign CS2, the Nonbreaking Space is a fixed
width = 1/6 em space
width. In CS3 and CS4 the width will vary depending
on tracking, justification, etc.
2. In InDesign CS3 and CS4, this special white space
character replaces the behavior of the Nonbreaking
Space in CS2.
Thin Space 3. The Flush Space is only applicable in lines that are
width = 1/8 em space fully justified. In left-, right-, or center-aligned lines,
the Flush Space acts like a normal space.

Hair Space Visit us at InDesignSecrets.com

width = 1/24 em space E-mail: [email protected]

©2008 Publishing Secrets, Inc.

The InDesignSecrets Guide to
Special Characters in Adobe InDesign 2

HYPHENS
Inline End of line

Hard hyphen
(entered manually)
The thin vertical blue line in
some of these examples is
a portion of the frame edge

Auto hyphen

Discretionary hyphen

By definition, nonbreaking
Nonbreaking hyphen hyphens won’t appear
at line breaks.

LINE BREAKS
Inline End of line

By definition, forced line

Forced line break breaks won’t appear inline.

Discretionary
line break
The InDesignSecrets Guide to
Special Characters in Adobe InDesign 3

TEXT FLOW BREAKS

Paragraph
Page Break
Break (Return)

Odd Page
Column Break
Break

Even Page
Frame Break
Break

OTHER SPECIALS
End of text in End Nested
this story Style

Tab Indent to Here

Custom
Right Indent
Anchored
Tab
Object

Non-joiner Split Footnote

Used to separate Only visible when frame
ligature characters edges are showing
The InDesignSecrets Guide to
Special Characters in Adobe InDesign 4

MARKERS
Layout Story Editor

Index Marker

Hyperlink (Source)
Default appearance

Text Anchor
A type of hyperlink destination

Cross-Reference
Source
Default appearance

Cross-Reference
Destination
Source links to this paragraph text

Conditional Text
Indicator color and style may vary

Hidden Conditional
Text
The InDesignSecrets Guide to
Special Characters in Adobe InDesign 5

MARKERS continued
Layout Story Editor

Inline Note
Marker color may vary

Footnote
Not shown: Footnote text in layout

Text Variable
Shown is a Custom Text variable
containing the text “db” and
named DB

XML Tagged Text

Marker color and tag labels
may vary

Note: Some of the special characters shown in this guide

are for features found only in InDesign CS3 and/or CS4.

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12 InDesignSecrets.com / InDesign Magazine