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 CS3 and later, the Nonbreaking space has the same
width = 1/6 em space
flexible width as the spacebar, but prevents the line
from breaking at the space character.
2. Prevents the line from breaking at the space character
but does not adjust its width in justified text. (This is
how the Nonbreaking Space works 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.

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width = 1/24 em space Twitter: @indesignsecrets

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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
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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 introduced in more recent versions of InDesign.

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