InDesign

Add text to a document

Add text to a document by typing or by pasting or placing text from a word-processing application. If your word-processing application supports drag-and-drop, you can also drag text into InDesign frames. For large blocks of text, the Place command is an efficient, versatile way to add text to your document. InDesign supports a variety of word-processing, spreadsheet, and text file formats.

When you place or paste text, you do not need to create a text frame first; InDesign will create one for you automatically.

When you place text, you can select Show Import Options to determine whether the imported text maintains its styles and formatting. Before you paste text, you can select All Information or Text Only under Clipboard Handling Preferences to determine whether the pasted text includes additional information such as swatches and styles.

If the text you import into your document includes pink, green, or another color of highlighting, you likely have one or more composition preference options turned on. Open the Composition section of the Preferences dialog box, and notice which options are turned on under Highlight. For example, if the pasted text is formatted with fonts not available, the text is highlighted in pink.

Type text in a document

  1. To place the insertion point inside the text frame, do one of the following:

    • Using the Type tool , drag to create a new text frame, or click in an existing text frame.

    • Using a selection tool, double-click inside an existing text frame. The Type tool is selected automatically.

  2. Begin typing.

If you created a text frame on a master page, hold down Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS) as you click in the frame on your document page. This makes a copy of the master page frame on the document page. You can then use the Type tool to add text to the selected frame.

Type Asian text using inline input

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Advanced Type (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Advanced Type (Mac OS).
  2. Select Use Inline Input For Non-Latin Text, and then click OK.

You can use a system input method, if available, for adding 2‑byte and 4‑byte characters. This method is especially useful for entering Asian characters.

Insert placeholder text

InDesign can add placeholder text that you can easily replace with real text later. Adding placeholder text can give you a more complete sense of your document’s design.

  1. Use the Selection tool to select one or more text frames, or use the Type tool to click in a text frame.
  2. Choose Type > Fill With Placeholder Text.

If you add placeholder text to a frame that’s threaded to other frames, the placeholder text is added at the start of the first text frame (if all frames are empty) or at the end of the existing text (if some text is already in the threaded frames), through to the end of the last threaded frame.

To remove or replace placeholder text, double-click in any frame in the thread, choose Edit > Select All, and then delete the text.

To change the text that is used as placeholder text, create a text file with the text you wish to use, name it Placeholder.txt, and save it in the application folder.