Expert: James Fritz - 6/5/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi there
A group of us have just upgraded to Indesign CS4 and when we type inside a text box, for some reason the enter/return key will not work. How do we make a new paragraph? Is there some sort of option we have to turn on? The arrow keys don't work either. Effectively this means we can't use the program.

ANSWER: Hi Katherine,

You can use the enter key, but you have to use the enter key that is above your shift key. If you use the numberpad enter key it creates a column break which is causing all of your text to jump to the next column, and if there isn't another column it just makes your text disappear which is probably what you are experiencing.


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QUESTION: Hate to say it,
but we are using the enter key above the shift key. I fear there is a problem. When we hit enter nothing happens. I have discovered that by right clicking in the text box i can insert a paragraph but cannot do it with the return key as with CS3.

Answer
That is strange. I assume the enter key works in every other application (otherwise the keyboard could be bad). Try resetting your preferences.
Quit ID, then relaunch. As it is starting up, hold down ctrl+alt+shift until a dialog box comes up and asks you to reset your preferences.