InDesign: Keyboard Shortcuts to Clear Overrides and Apply Paragraph Style

Over on the Facebook InDesign Group mem­ber Peter D. asked:

[su_quote cite=“Peter D., Facebook InDesign Group” url=“https://www.facebook.com/groups/indesign”]How can I set­up a key­board short­cut to ‘Apply , Clear Overrides.’ Reaching for the mouse all the time for this is throw­ing me off![/su_quote]

While there isn’t a way to apply a para­graph style and clear over­rides in a sin­gle key­board short­cut (with­out script­ing), you can eas­i­ly assign and use two shortcuts–one for Clear Overrides and one to apply a spe­cif­ic style.

Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to Clear Overrides

Assigning a key­board short­cut to Clear Overrides in InDesign is easy.

1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. In the Keyboard Shortcuts dia­log, set the Product Area drop­down to Panel Menus.
3. Scroll down through the Commands list until you find Paragraph Styles: Clear Overrides. Highlight it.
4. In the New Shortcut field at the bot­tom, press your desired key­board short­cut and then the Assign button.

If your desired key­board short­cut is already in use, InDesign will ask whether you want to assign it to Clear Overrides, remov­ing it from what­ev­er com­mand already car­ried the short­cut, or if you’d like to find a dif­fer­ent key­board shortcut.

If you’re using the Default key­board short­cut set, which you can see in the Set field at the top of the dia­log, you’ll also be prompt­ed to save a new set when you assign a key­board shortcut.

Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to a Paragraph Style

This one is even eas­i­er. Individual style short­cuts can be added on the General pane of the Paragraph Style Options dialog.

1. Edit the para­graph style to which you’d like to assign a key­board shortcut.
2. On the General pane, click inside the Shortcut field and press your key­board short­cut. Note that it has to be a numer­ic key­pad num­ber and one or more mod­i­fi­er keys such as CTRL, ALT, and Shift on Windows or Command, OPT, ALT, and Shift on macOS.
3. Click OK to com­mit the key­board short­cut assignment.

Armed with these short­cuts, all you have to do is high­light text with the Type tool or even the entire frame with the black arrow Selection tool, press the key­board short­cuts sequen­tial­ly, and you’ll either clear all over­rides and apply the para­graph style or apply the para­graph style and then clear overrides.