Expert: Amy - 9/1/2004

Question
I created a text box and copied and pasted text from adobe indesign. The text displays bold and reg within each word. It fades from one to the other. It also prints this way.
To resolve the problem, I created a new text box and re-typed mannually the text. Unfortunately, it still displays the text in the same manner. I've also tried to change the font and again the problem re-occurs.
Please help I've seen this problem before, that time it was to late as the file had already been sent to the printer.
Thanks in advance...

Answer
Hi Michelle -

A thought came to me as I sit here remembering all the weird stuff that I've done accidentally... You don't have the text unintentionally filled or stroked with a gradient or pattern???

Check the Appearance Window (Window>Show Appearance)- are there any strange entries there when you select the text box?  How bout the one you did manually? A selected text box should have nothing but a stroke, fill, text, and default transparency, and they should all be filled with "nothing."  When you select the text itself, you should only have a black fill, a blank stroke, and default transparency again. If you find anything else in there, delete it.

If this all checks out okay, the text is retaining some characteristics from InDesign, most likely.  The reason your manually typed box also looked that way is because of Illustrator's default behavior to create an object with the same appearance as the last object selected.  

To prevent it, look at InDesign. Is there anyway to select the text in InDesign and get rid of all of its formatting before copying it? I do not own a copy of it.

If not, to clean that text without having to type it all again, copy and paste the text into Word and save it as a text only document.  Then close the Word doc and open it again. Copy the text. Open Illustrator, and create a new document without opening that old funky document. Make a new text box in the new Illustrator document and try pasting it now.

Alternatively, convert your text to outlines and see if the weirdness goes away? At least you'd be able to print it without having to type it all again.

Let me know,
Amy