How do I underline a word in Adobe InDesign?

August 9, 2019

Recently I was asked: “How do I underline a word in Adobe InDesign?”

Underlining text, yes you can do this using InDesign it is a simple few keystrokes, but why underline?

In modern professional western typesetting this is not typically practiced within a paragraph of text or other running text. The goal of setting beautiful legible and readable typography for a reader, well underlining does not achieve this. The use is thought distracting, so underlining in professional publication is not frequently produced in print, PDF or web pages.

Many other practices can be used to indicate emphasis in modern typesetting.

Consult your local graphic designer to learn better visual communications and typesetting practices.

As I mentioned using InDesign underlining can be quickly done. The first step is to select the word, sentence, paragraph that you want to effect and set with an underline.

Next pressing keyboard shortcut combination of SHIFT + COMMAND + U (Control+ Shift+ U, Windows OS) will apply an underline to the selected text. Many other methods can be employed as well to activate this option.

I caution you in using underling in typesetting, it generally should be used by typewriters and in handwriting.

Just know if you underline and italicize a word, feverish typographers with pitchforks, flaming torches, rope, hot tar and feathers may appear at your door.