InDesign shows 2 different point sizes…weird…

[Kelly Johnson]

I’m not using InDesignCS2 right now, but I’ve seen that same thing in InDesignCS. There is a preference and unbelievably, I can’t recall what it is at the moment but anytime you scale a converted and somtimes imported type frame instead of actually assigning a new font size you get those two different measurements.

The difference between the two numbers shows the points that have been added/subtracted. If you have 14 showing in the brackets and you have 12 showing, the difference of 2pt is what you can ‘think in’ rather than actually thinking 12pt.

Style sheets always have a normal by default, but you should get a message about replacing the normal ss if you are converting a Quark document that actually utilized the style sheet.

Something else you can try with linked boxes in Quark: Select All copy and then under File choose Save Text…choose Story (if applicable) and save it as .rtf Rich Text Format.

When you import the copy into InDesignCS, it retains all the character and paragraph formatting, but you don’t actually get the stylesheets added.

[Bilart]

Hi Thumbslinger

I’ve found the solution, kind of weird though, but works. After you scale the text frame and have the double value for the point size, with this frame still selected, go to Transform pallette and turn on “Scale Text Attributes” (it’s in the right expandable sumbenu). Annoying thing because you have to do it to a single frame or multi selection, but works. Unfortunately I haven’t found anything in the preferences for the application, would be handy if we could switch that on for good. There is also little bit more explained in InDesign help (keyword: Scale Text Attributes)

Thanks,
A.

[Rclaborne]

There are indeed many rework issues associated with file conversion. No system is fool-proof, but possibly a different conversion method would help…

Markzware has released Q2ID (QuarkXPress to InDesign). This is an InDesign Plug-in which automatically converts QuarkXPress documents into new InDesign V3 (CS) or V4 (CS2) compositions.

Q2ID is a conversion tool that enables Adobe InDesign users to painlessly convert QuarkXPress 3.3, 4.x, 5.x and 6.x documents into the native InDesign document format. Q2ID converts QuarkXPress layout elements including, but not limited to: page size, style sheets, fonts, text, images, layers, lines, tables, etc.; provided that InDesign supports the layout item.

This release if for OSX users with Windows soon to follow. You can get full details at http://www.Q2ID.com

[Erica Gamet]

The preference you’re looking for is under Preferences > Text > Adjust Text Attributes When Scaling. With it selected, text will automatically scale to size and give you the one (accurate) type size in the Control palette. This is when you scale a text frame using the Selection tool, while holding down the Command (Ctl) key to scale content as well as the container. If you don’t have this preference selected, when you scale a text frame, the text scales, but retains the original type size value as well as the the current, effective type size. If the latter is the case and you decide you had wanted to adjust the text scaling for this frame, you can then choose Scale Text Attributes from the Control palette menu (after selecting the text frame with the Selection tool).

I personall leave Adjust Text Attributes When Scaling checked, since that’s usually my point in resizing the text frame, anyway. But, that’s just me. Don’t forget, any preferences you set with no document open becomes the preference from that point out…setting a preference with a document open sets the preference for that document only…hope that helps!