Format text and objects faster with Quick Apply (InDesign CS2/CS3/CS4)

InDesign features a way to select and apply paragraph, character, and object styles. The Quick Apply command eliminates the need to search for styles buried deep in the Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, and Object Styles palettes.

To select a style using Quick Apply:

1. Highlight the text you want to format with the Type tool or click on the objects you want to format with the Selection tool.
2. Press [command][enter] ([Ctrl][Enter] in Windows 7), click the Quick Apply button on the Control panel, or choose Edit > Quick Apply.
3. Type the first letter of the style you’re looking for in the resulting Quick Edit list box. If you have a lot of styles named similarly, you can either type a few more letters or numbers in the style’s name or use the up and down arrow keys to move through the list.

To apply a DTP style selected in the Quick Edit list box, do one of the following:

• Press [enter] or click the Quick Apply button to apply the selected style and close the Quick Edit list box.
• Press [shift][enter] to apply the style and keep the Quick Edit list box open.
• Press [option][enter] ([Alt][Enter] in Windows) to apply the style and remove formatting overrides.
• Press [option][shift][enter] ([Alt][Shift][Enter] in Windows) to apply the style as well as remove formatting overrides and character styles.
• Press [esc] to close the Quick Edit list box without applying a style.

You may find assigning keyboard shortcuts to styles and using them to apply styles is quicker and easier, but when you have more styles than you do available keyboard shortcuts, Quick Apply is a nice feature to have.