Preview Applied Fonts
Not sure which font you’d like to use in a layout or design? Try scrolling through the font menu and previewing each font that you currently have activated on your system as it’s applied to your text selection.
To do so, select a text frame with the Selection tool (or Direct Selection tool), press T to switch to the Type tool, and then click inside the Font field located in either the Control or Character panel. To preview available fonts as they’re applied to ALL the text in a selected frame (or multiple selected frames), scroll through the font list by pressing the Up/Down arrow keys.
The reason for switching tools before you start scrolling through the font list is because it allows you to preview the text without having to highlight it first. It’s much easier to decide which font works best in a design if you can actually SEE the text, without it appearing inversed over black as the result of highlighting it with the Type tool. However, note that in order to preview fonts as they are applied to a single line of text, or to specific characters within a selected frame (rather than ALL the text in a selected frame), you are forced to highlight the characters with the Type tool. It’s for this reason that I usually keep large stand alone text elements, (such as an intro spread header in a magazine layout) in their own text frames, without entering a paragraph break and a related subhead directly underneath it in the story.
Are we recycling tips now…?
Perhaps somebody asked Ted today and he diligently posted the response? We’re not all new to InDesign or InDesignsecrets?
Anywho, two other ways would be to select the text box with one of the arrow tools, then on the Character Panel you can cycle.
And you can set up a pargraph style and then change the font with preview on.
Both of these ways don’t show the highlighted text.
Admitedly I didn’t know about Ted’s way, which is quite cool, just switching tools won’t activate the insertion point until you click in the box.
Nice.
Wa, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Did we cover this in a blog post earlier? I don’t see one after a quick search.
I think Ted’s tip is really helpful, especially for beginners. One other thing I like to point out is that you can type in that Font menu. For example, you can type “G” if you know you want to jump to the fonts that start with G.
I wish we could have more control over what the Font menus shows. For example, it’d be fun to say, “Just show me a subset of the script fonts.” But I guess that’s one of the benefits of a font manager such as Fusion or Font AgentPro. (Can you do that in FontExplorer? Don’t see any method for doing that.)
Admittedly, this is somewhat of a beginner’s tip. That said, I was surprised at the number of designers that were unaware of it when I showed it at the recent Nashville CS conference. It’s a useful tip for those of us who are not already “in the know.”
Excellent tip that I stumbled on about five years ago but keep forgetting to use. I’m always up for a “recycled” tip if it reminds me of something useful!
I seem to be missing something here. If I follow these instructions the Font field is grayed and I cannot click in it.
I seem to remember this one from long ago here. Am I mistaken? Maybe I read it in InDesign Magazine and I am confused? (some days I’m a bit like Led Zeppelin: dazed and confused!)
Michael – That is probably because you are selecting a frame that is threaded. Unfortunately, this will not work with threaded text frames.
Well, if recycled or not. I didnt know that one… just one thing is missing for me to find that tip really useful: ID should be able to organize fonts by itself. So it would be easy to see the results of a selection of fonts. … i
Ronald – Add that one to the wish list! For now, I’d recommend using a font management application such as Suitcase Fusion (OS X) or Suitcase for Windows in order to preview fonts side by side. Most of these apps allow you to type in custom text, which is helpful.
There is never a recycled tip ! Because people forget tips and even if they know them they hardly apply them because they don’t have to reflex. The more tips you post, even the basics one, the better people will learn and collect them in their brain.
And I remember that this way to browse through applied font on a text was possible in QuarkXPress 3.x too, with the shortcut Alt-F9.
Yes, even old news can be good news! I’ve been doing this for years — all the while cursing that it’s *impossible* to hide the text frames while they’re selected! Please Adobe, give us a Ctrl-H (or whatever) for InDesign — the function which so nicely hides selection edges in Photoshop.
Ted,
It was not a a threaded frame. In fact it is one frame in a one page document.
Michael, try resetting your preferences, I had problems with the Control Panel in InDesign until I reset the preferences, works fine now.
Klaus, if you want to change the font without the frame edges showing then create a Paragraph style for the text box, then you can change the style with the preview on without the frame edges showing.
Michael,
Are you selecting the type tool first?
A nice addition to an already nice tip, is that you can move to the Font field of the Character panel by using the Ctrl T keyboard shortcut. So, whatever tool you’re on you can hold down the Ctrl key, click on a text frame to select it, use Ctrl T to enter the Font field and then use the up and down arrows to preview fonts, or as David suggests, begin typing the name of the font you want to use. Of course the tab key will move you around the other fields in the Character palette…
I must agree with Branislav, there is no such thing as a recycled tip! Heck with each version of the app some tips have to change.
I like to read lots of tips because it is always great to hear different people explain their work flow. No matter how well you know these apps someone else has done something different than you and their way might be better.
I really don’t think I have ever seen this tip around here but I now plan on trying it, so thanks!
Wa,
Repetition is the Mother of Skill…
I ‘browse’ through the fonts like that all the time, never selecting the text tool first though. It’s an unnecessary step if you’re using the Character panel.
Andrew: thanks for the Ctrl + T tip. I’ll be using that a lot from now on. Two less actions to take with the mouse.
I never did this before! Great tipp- thx!
This is a very cool tip! Thanks!
Ted, seriously cool tip! Everyone who has tweaked the tip…cool whip on cool! I read all sorts of great stuff here and elsewhere and then forget to remember it until I have been reminded several times. Please keep them coming!
I also tend to learn programs and upgrades on the fly so a site like this one is especially good for me.
This is a great tip, but scrolling through the font list by pressing the Up/Down arrow keys dose not work in Illustrator… Does someone know how to do this?
I’ve never been able to get this shortcut to work in Illustrator CS3 on OS X (even though Adobe’s Classroom in a Book says that it should), but I have in Windows. I assume it is a bug. Has anyone else experienced this problem on either platform?
Ted, I know that in Fireworks you can’t cycle the Blending modes using the arrow keys, and that’s on Mac only, works fine on Windows.
I’m not sure about Illustrator and the font menu though.
This is one inconsistent feature between Id & Ai that really annoys me. I use this feature all the time in Id. I still try it every time in Ai even though I know it’s not going to work.
This is brilliant! I never knew these things, being a bit of a beginner. The reversed image with highlighting on is always a nuisance. This method is so simple and clear. Thanks!
Great tip(s)! And don’t forget, if you want to skip some fonts in your font menu (say you have every single Avant Garde you own open) just type a letter first in the field and you will start there.
Wow. I’m always learning something from you guys…and I am NOT a beginner. There’s always a new thing around the corner that I can share with my coworkers to make them think I’m really smart and cool!
Thanks for the great tip! I used to do it but I keep forgetting these little tricks!
I am not a beginner however, I may be compared to some of you. I am always learning here.
I change my fonts this way all the time. But it never changes my text in the text frame without me selecting & choosing each and every font, not just simply scroll through with the arrows. I see the font in the word SAMPLE next to the font name but does not show in my actual text until I actually hit enter.
Why is this?