5 InDesign Tips for Lightning Fast Text Editing

We all know time is money. In the design world it is especially true. The less time you spend clicking through menus, and changing tools the more time you spend actually designing. That is why I have compiled this list of my top 5 favorite Adobe InDesign text editing shortcuts. Utilize these InDesign shortcuts and you will be editing text at warp speed.

On a technical note, I am using CS4 Adobe InDesign and the short cuts are for the Mac.

1. T is for Type

This InDesign tip is for the beginners, it is ten times quicker to hit a key on your board than it is to go up to the menu bar and come back to your design. The most basic keyboard shortcut for text editing is if you hit the "T" key it will switch your tool to the type tool.

2. Escaping the Text Box

Once you open a text box in InDesign you can no longer use your keyboard shortcut "V" to return to the arrow tool. Instead hitting "Escape" will get you back there. This tip saves me oodles of time, and when you need to make multiple text boxes this is essential.

3. Alignment

Many times you need to switch your alignment from Left to center or right. To do this you simply hold down the "command" and "shift" keys and press "C" for center or "R" for right. You can also press "L" for left aligned or "J" for Left Justified.

4. Quick Sizing

Often after inserting my text into InDesign I have a lot of extra text box flab hanging out there. Thankfully there is an easier way then resizing with the arrow tool, after switching back to the arrow tool simply hold "Option" and "Command" and press "C" and bam your text box zips to the appropriate size to fit the text.

This will also work to ad additional text box space but be warned it will only expand the box vertically not horizontally.

5. Font Size

When the text is selected in the text box it is possible to change the size by holding down "Command" and "Shift" and pressing the "," and "." Keys. I find it easy to remember because the greater than and less signs on these keys look like arrows that you can move the text size up and down.

Another quick way to change the size is after returning to the arrow tool (by pressing Escape) select the corner and resize both the text and the box by holding down the "command" key as you resize the text box. To make sure the text sizes proportionally hold down both the "command" and the "shift" key as you resize.

There you have it five quick and painless text for Adobe InDesign. Remember use that "Escape" key and resizing is sometimes easier using the arrow tool.