I want to highlight some part of a paragraph so created a character style. But I don’t seem to be able to not specify a font, it’s weight etc. I can clear the typeface itself and the style but not the size, it ends up at 2 point.
I just want to highlight a word or two with a yellow background. Can I do this?
Thank you
You need to create a character style that’s linked to the special style called “default style” (in the “inherit from” setting you find on the Organizer tab for your new style). The easiest way to do so is to just right click on the “default style” character style and select “new.” Be careful to only modify those settings you need and let the rest of the style untouched: only those settings you modified will be applied on top of your text.
As long as you don’t click on the font name, font weight or font size, these attributes are not set. They will be used as defined in the paragraph style.
The difficulty comes from the UI ergonomy: font properties always show a selection but there is no visual difference between “inherited by default” and “explicitly selected”.
Consider for example the Emphasis built-in character style: it italicises the run of characters no matter the font. It is built without explicitly selecting a font face or size, only clicking in the italics variant.
In case you inadvertently clicked on a font face (or other attribute), you can revert to the “transparent” state with the Standard button. This button has effect on all attributes of the current tab.
Note that the Default Style is not a real character style. Formally, you don’t derive other styles from it. Right-clicking on it and New is the same as right-clicking in an empty area of the list and selecting New. The resulting style is independent of any other.
To show the community your question has been answered, click the ✓ next to the correct answer, and “upvote” by clicking on the ^ arrow of any helpful answers. These are the mechanisms for communicating the quality of the Q&A on this site. Thanks!
I had created the style by ‘New Style From Selection’ and had not been into it. It seems to take the font settings as well, which now I think of it is sensible. So I just need to rember to use the ‘Standard’ button. Thank you
When you use “New Style from Selection”, all attributes are copied into the style. Therefore font face, weight and size are also set. In your case, it is much safer and more reliable to use only New so that no unwanted attributes are set and they remain in the “transparent” state.