Explore a comprehensive InDesign tutorial that covers spell-checking and implementing Find/Change feature to eliminate common typography errors.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Adobe InDesign training materials and is compatible with InDesign updates through 2020. To learn current skills in InDesign, check out our InDesign Bootcamp and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Note: These materials are provided to give prospective students a sense of how we structure our class exercises and supplementary materials. During the course, you will get access to the accompanying class files, live instructor demonstrations, and hands-on instruction.
Topics covered in this InDesign tutorial:
Spell checking, Find/change
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
Great designs are not as good when they contain spelling mistakes, so in this exercise, you’ll learn InDesign’s spell check feature. We will also show you how to use Find/Change to get rid of some bad typography.
Spell Checking
- If yourname-leaders.indd is not already open, re-open it.
- At the bottom of the right-hand page (pg 21), zoom in on the author bio text frame.
- Put the text cursor in the text frame.
- Go into Edit > Spelling > Check Spelling.
- The spell check automatically starts and InDesign finds the first misspelled word. At the bottom, set the Search menu to Story. A story refers to a single text frame, or a series of threaded text frames. So we’re only spell checking this text frame now.
- Click Start.
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InDesign may think nouns or acronyms are misspelled. It will even sometimes think a plural is incorrect. You have to make a judgment on each word:
If the word is correct and you don’t want to change it, click Ignore All or Skip.
Otherwise, to fix the misspelling you can do one of two things:- Select a suggested spelling and click Change.
- If a proper spelling is not suggested, type it in and click Change.
- If you want more practice doing this, change the Search menu to Document (at the bottom of the Check Spelling panel).
This will spell check all text in the file.
Using Find/Change to Fix Some Bad Typography
- This author occasionally typed in two spaces between sentences, which is a big no-no in professional design. To fix it go to Edit > Find/Change.
- Select the Text tab at the top.
- Make sure the Direction is set to its default, Forward.
- From the Search menu, choose Document.
- Under Find what, delete anything that is there and press the Spacebar twice.
- Under Change to, delete anything that is there and press the Spacebar once.
- Click Find Next.
- Once it finds one, click Change to see that it works.
- Click Change All to correct all instances of the search term.
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A dialog that says how many replacements were made pops up. Click OK to dismiss it.
The author also incorrectly used a hyphen, surrounded by spaces, instead of an em dash, which should NOT have spaces around it.
- In the Find/Change panel, delete the current values for Find what and Change to.
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Edit the find and change fields as follows:
Find what: Type in one space, then a hyphen(-), then another space. Change to: From the 
menu to its right, choose Hyphens and Dashes > Em Dash. Make sure there are no spaces before or after the em dash! - Click the Find Next button, and once it finds one, click Change All.
- Click OK to dismiss the dialog, then close the Find/Change panel.
You’re done with Leaders Magazine! Pat yourself on the back and save your hard work.