Change Typefaces without Using the Mouse
Here’s a quick tip for changing the font of text quickly in all versions of InDesign and InCopy–and without ever touching the mouse.
Let’s begin by establishing two facts: First, CMD+T/CTRL+T opens or closes the Character panel/palette. Second, we know that typing into the Character panel’s Font Family field causes InDesign to try to match typed characters to the name of a font family. For instance, if you type gar InDesign will fill in the first match, which is likely to be Garamond Premiere Pro or another Garamond derivation (assuming you have a Garamond type family installed and active).
What you may not have noticed is a third fact germane to this discussion: When the Character panel is first opened, the contents of the Font Family field are automatically selected and highlighted. (See where I’m going with this?)
Combine those three facts and you have a mouse-free means of rapidly changing the typeface of text as you type. Here’s how:
- Press CMD+T/CTRL+T to open the Character panel. If it was already open, press CMD+T/CTRL+T twice–once to close it, once to re-open it.
- Begin typing the name of your desired font family. InDesign (or InCopy) will automatically fill in the first alphabetical match. If that match isn’t correct, keep typing out the name until the Character panel serves up what you want.
- Press Return/Enter to commit the font family change to the document.
- Keep on writing or formatting copy in your document.
Notice that at no time did your hands leave the keyboard.
If you need to change the font style or other options after changing the font family, hit Tab before step 3 to move from the Font Family field to the Font Style field. In that field you can also begin typing the desired style name and let InDesign fill in the rest. For instance, type it to request the italic typeface or cond for the condensed version–of course, InDesign will only offer up styles you have installed.
OK, here’s a stumper:
Assuming you have the entire family of Myriad Pro installed, can you change your font to Myriad Pro Light without reaching for the mouse? I don’t think it’s possible. (It defaults to Light Condensed, and hitting ‘delete’ will not remove the ‘Condensed’. Quite annoying, really.
Very astute observation, Aaron. Technically? Yes, you can still do it straight from the keyboard despite the fact that InDesign hands over Myriad Pro Light Condensed instead of just Myriad Pro Light when you type “light”. If it’s a typeface you use often, pop open the style list and note the position of the Light style, which is between Light Italic and Regular. Then, to get to Light, type “Regular” (or a portion of it) and use the keyboard Up arrow once–or type “Light Italic” and press the keyboard Down arrow once.
Practically speaking, if it isn’t a style you choose often, you’ll probably wind up reaching for the mouse rather than messing with the Up and Down arrows.
Incidentally, the sort order of Myriad Pro, which I use frequently, and other large type families is really irritating. :-)
Aaron: Once the font style box has the input focus, you can press Alt + down arrow to pop open the list of styles and then navigate it using the up and down arrow keys. I don’t know if this works on Mac OS though.
Great tip. I’d just add that I personally don’t like using the Character panel because I feel that it wastes screen space. The Control panel is always there, and you can do the same thing (except different keystrokes) with the Control panel.
if the Control panel is showing the Character options just press Cmd-6 (Ctrl-6 on PC) and you’ve highlighted the font field.
If the Control panel is showing Paragraph options, press Cmd-Opt-7 (Ctrl-Alt-7 on PC) to change it to the Character options. Then press Cmd-6 (Ctrl-6 on PC) to highlight the font field.
Of course this doesn’t work in InCopy since it lacks a Control panel.
In CS3, when I hit tab on the Character Panel to change the weight of the type, it reverts back to the text box and does not enter the next field in the panel.
A late thanks, Pariah. Just tried your technique and it works fine. :)
Peter & Aaron:
On the Mac, once you highlight the Font Family or Font Style area, you can just use the up & down arrow keys to move up and down through the selections.
And if the text is highlighted, you get an instant update in the text box as you scroll through.
Thanks for the tips Pariah – I hate touching the mouse. :)
I am trying to change or find out if there is a way of changing the preset type face in cs3. So when I draw a ext box it will start with the type face I set instead of going back to times. Any ideas.