How to Do Double Spacing in Indesign Cs2

By Jennifer Hearing

Typesetters kept different sized type and metal strips to separate lines of text.
i Old typo cast image by Jackob Bangiel from Fotolia.com

Adobe InDesign is a leading page-layout software program used to create everything from books to pamphlets and magazines. InDesign provides multiple tools and menus to help fine-tune every aspect of a document, from its margins down to letter spacing. Line spacing in InDesign is referred to as "leading," a term derived from the days when strips of lead where placed in between lines of text to add space.

Determine the size of your text. Whatever size you choose, InDesign will automatically create a default leading size that is 120 percent, or "single spaced," of your font size. For example, if you choose 10 pt, your leading will be 12 pt. In typesetting terms, this is written as 10/12, or "ten over twelve."

Figure your new leading size. For double spacing, double the leading amount. In the 10/12 example, your new leading would be twice that, or 24. If that amount looks like too much space, double the font size instead, which would be 10 x 2, or 20.

Change the leading amount in InDesign by clicking "Window," then "Control" at the top of the workspace or in the character panel. The leading icon looks like a letter fraction: one A is over another A with a line in between.

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