Question

Outer spacing of a nested text box in InDesign

Asked by: spule

Hi,

I have a number text boxes inside another text box. I need them to have "space before" and "space after" (like a paragraph) so that they be separated from each other by some space. In CSS, I would set the margin-top and margin-bottom properties. How do I do this in InDesign?

Thank you

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-10-07 at 10:04:36ID24793117
Tags

Adobe InDesign

,

outer spacing

,

margin

,

nested text box

Topics

Adobe InDesign Publishing Software

,

Page Layout / Desktop Publishing Software

,

Publishing Industry

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
11

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. InDesign Margin Issues
    Hello Experts, This is the second project i've used InDesign for, and for the strangest problem im having margin issues. My document is 66p0 x 51p0 (Letter size). The margins are all set to 1p6 (1/4in), and bleed and slug set to 0p0 (0in) all the way around. When I try to...
  2. InDesign CS2 is wrapping lines prematurely.
    I'm having a weird issue with InDesign CS2 where lines are not wrapping efficiently/correctly. InDesign is wrapping lines prematurely. It's difficult to describe but words are being wrapped when there is definitely enough space for them to fit on the previous line. The only...
  3. spacing of columns in Adobe InDesign
    I have set up a six column layout in Adobe InDesign that looks like a newspaper page. When I justify to both the left and right to spread them out over the width of the column, some words get very bunched together and it looks like there is no space between them. Is there any...
  4. How to autonumber cels in InDesign
    Is it possible to number table cells in InDesign. I need to make table with y cels and x columns, and set number to all of them after filling info to the cell.

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: GreyNoMorePosted on 2009-10-08 at 02:32:50ID: 25523423

I suspect your boxes are inline objects. If so, they are treated just like regular text: you can create a paragraph style (F11 to show/hide the palette) with the desired values for space before and after and apply it to the "container" textbox.

 

by: SheharyaarSaahilPosted on 2009-10-08 at 05:09:25ID: 25524410

right click your text frame, click Text Frame Options
and then set the Inset Spacing

 

by: spulePosted on 2009-10-08 at 06:08:54ID: 25524912

@SheharyaarSaahil: I don't want to set outer spacing, not inner spacing.

@GreyNoMore: Yes, I guess they are. I've already tried that. I click the text box, open up the Paragraph window and increase Space Before. Nothing happens.

 

by: GreyNoMorePosted on 2009-10-08 at 06:21:58ID: 25525032

Click on your small text boxes and go to Object -> Anchored Object -> Options and verify that "Position" is inline.
Also show hidden characters (Alt+Ctrl+I) and make sure there are carriage return characters between them.

 

by: spulePosted on 2009-10-08 at 06:37:12ID: 25525172

Yes, they're inline and there are CR between them, but it still doesn't work.

 

by: GreyNoMorePosted on 2009-10-08 at 07:23:04ID: 25525732

That's a little strange.

If you can, please do a quick check:
Use direct selection tool (V) and alt-drag the container box to another location (creates a copy). Double click inside the copy, select all (ctrl+A), delete, go to Type->Fill with placeholder text, (insert some more carriage return characters if necessary to create paragraphs), and verify that the spacing between paragraphs can now be manipulated with the usual tools.

 

by: spulePosted on 2009-10-08 at 08:10:01ID: 25526315

I can manipulate spacing between paragraphs in that box. Here's my document.

 

by: GreyNoMorePosted on 2009-10-08 at 08:22:20ID: 25526457

Works as intended for me. This is the document (modified).

(I've used a paragraph style, but it works with simple manipulation through the Paragraph  palette too.)

 

by: spulePosted on 2009-10-08 at 10:37:26ID: 25527899

I could not open your file. It reports missing and outdated plug-ins. I'm using CS3, I guess you are using CS4.

 

by: GreyNoMorePosted on 2009-10-09 at 03:30:37ID: 25533631

I can only save it as an inx file for cs3, but it should work.

 

by: spulePosted on 2009-10-09 at 05:39:21ID: 25534328

Hey, now I see where the problem was. You selected the boxes like a piece of text (by dragging), while I selected it like an object (by clicking), which didn't work. Thanks for your help!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...