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Anyone who works in graphic design is familiar with Adobe InDesign. Although Photoshop is the most well-known, InDesign has proven itself to be a versatile program that can create professional-level e-publications and special effects in texts, logos, brochures, and more. However, there is a bit of a learning curve for those who use it. One thing that often happens in InDesign is that the text will disappear. Why does this happen?
The reason text will disappear in InDesign is that there is overset text. What that means is that there are too many words to fit within the amount of space of the text box, therefore, the excess gets cut off.
If this has happened to you, your initial reaction may have been panic or worry that you would have to start your whole project over again. However, you can rest easy. Fixing an overset text and getting all the text in your project is an easy fix. There are a couple of different ways you can fix it. Read on to find out what to look for and how to make sure your project is just the way you want it.
How Do I Get My Text to Reappear in InDesign?
When it comes to InDesign, it is pretty clear when text has disappeared. Either it disappears when you press the enter/return button, or you will get to the end of the document, go to print and you will get a warning that there is an overset text. For both of these situations, there are simple ways to fix it and add the text back in. Let’s explore each more in detail.
Text Disappears When I press Enter
If you have created a text box, then copied and pasted text from a different source into that text box, but some of the text got cut off because the text box is too small for the amount of text, you can fix it by taking the following steps:
- Locate the little red plus sign. This is located on the bottom right of the text box.
- Press the plus sign. This will change your cursor and enable you to draw another text box. As soon as the text box is created, the missing text will automatically flow into that new text box, and you can carry on for as long as you need.
If you are on the last text box and do not want to create a new text box, you can also enlarge the text box until all the text fits into it. Simply drag the bottom line of your text box with your cursor until all of the text is back inside of it.
Error Message When Trying to Print
Sometimes you may get to the end of a project, press print, and then an error message will pop up with a message saying, “There is overset text on these pages:” and then the page numbers will be given. If your document is short, you can go back through page by page. However, if your document is long, it is much more tedious to fix it this way. Instead, you can shorten the process by doing the following:
- Scroll to the bottom of the page. In the center slightly toward the left, you should see a red dot labeled, “Errors”.
- Click on the down arrow beside the dot. You will be taken to the preflight panel.
- Once you get to the preflight panel, click on the option labeled “Text.” You will see options labeled “Text frame”. These are the areas where the overset has occurred. If you click on them, you can then fix them by expanding the text box or by making another one.
Conclusion
InDesign is a great tool for a variety of graphic design projects and different needs which clients may need to be met. Whether you need to create brochures, logos, e-publications, InDesign is a great program to help make it simple to create professional products which will satisfy both you and your client.
However, if you are working with large blocks of text, one problem you may run into is that text will disappear. The reason for this is that the text block is too big for the amount of text you may have. There are a couple of ways to fix this. Either you can click the red arrow at the bottom right of the text box to create another text box for the missing text to flow into or you can enlarge the text box.
