DTP Tips & Tricks

In multilingual DTP projects, translated text often becomes longer or shorter than the source language. This can cause text reflow issues, overset text, or unexpected layout changes — especially when working with IDML files exported from CAT tools. This behaviour is normal and usually related to font metrics, language settings, or paragraph styles.

• Check whether the correct paragraph and character styles are applied to the translated text
• Make sure the assigned font supports the target language properly
• Activate Preflight (Window → Output → Preflight) to detect overset text quickly
• If necessary, adjust text frames manually or enable Auto-Size under Text Frame Options to allow controlled expansion

Overset text is one of the most common issues in desktop publishing, especially in long documents like manuals or books. It often appears after translation, font changes, or text edits. Ignoring overset text can lead to missing content in print or PDF exports.

• Open the Preflight panel and enable it for your document
• Click on the overset text warning to jump directly to the affected frame
• Resize the text frame, reduce tracking slightly, or adjust paragraph spacing
• For recurring issues, review your paragraph styles and baseline grid settings

When IDML files are processed through CAT tools, font information may not always be preserved correctly. This can result in substituted fonts, incorrect weights, or missing styles when reopening the file in Adobe® InDesign®.

• Open Type → Find Font to review all fonts used in the document
• Replace missing or substituted fonts with the correct ones manually
• Make sure all required fonts are installed locally before opening the IDML file
• Avoid mixing font families unnecessarily to reduce substitution risks

Print-ready PDFs require more than just exporting a file. Incorrect settings can cause issues with bleed, colours, or trim marks during printing.

• Go to File → Export and choose Adobe PDF (Print)
• Select a preset recommended by your printer, or use PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 if required
• Enable bleed and crop marks under Marks and Bleeds
• Make sure your document bleed is set correctly before exporting
• Always review the exported PDF before sending it to print

Bullet points often behave unpredictably in translated documents due to different text lengths, fonts, or language rules. This can result in misaligned bullets or inconsistent spacing.

• Use paragraph styles for all bullet lists instead of manual formatting
• Check the Bullets and Numbering settings inside the paragraph style
• Avoid using special characters as bullets unless they are part of the font set
• After translation, reapply the paragraph style to reset formatting cleanly

When IDML files are processed through CAT tools, the exported file may sometimes have incorrect formatting — including text that appears in the wrong colour. Here is how to fix it:

• Select the incorrectly formatted text frame
• In the Tools panel, locate the two overlapping coloured boxes — one is the fill colour, one is the stroke colour
• Below those boxes, find the square icon (frame colour) and the T icon (text colour)
• Click the T icon to target the text itself
• Change the colour — it will be applied to the selected text only

Adobe® InDesign® hyphenates words by default to keep layouts balanced and clean. During the DTP of translated documents, you may want to turn this off entirely — particularly for languages where automatic hyphenation causes more problems than it solves.

• Select the text frame you want to affect
• Open the Paragraph panel via Type → Paragraph or Ctrl + Alt + T (Windows)
• Uncheck the Hyphenate checkbox at the bottom of the panel
• The selected text frame will no longer be hyphenated