How to Change All Text at Once in InDesign

Adobe InDesign offers powerful text design applications with custom formatting for fonts, sizing, styling and weight. Changing all text at once in InDesign is common for applications with small blocks of paragraph text. Files with alternating fonts, titles, paragraphs and other styling lose all custom formatting if the entire document is changed.

The font manager triggers a warning when you attempt to save a file constructed with fonts that aren't on the computer. Exiting the font manager triggers an automatic change to the default fonts on the computer, but an alternative to find and correct missing fonts is also available.

To correct the missing fonts with default fonts, go ahead and exit the document. To automatically replace the missing fonts with defaults at all times, select the Activate button on the dialogue box. This option substitutes for missing fonts any time you save or exit the design. While the automatic feature is convenient, it can make unexpected font changes that require later tweaking.

The other option for missing fonts is to change the individual problem fonts. Select the desired missing fonts in the dialogue box and click Find Fonts to locate suitable replacements. This process maintains some custom formatting along with consistency for titles and paragraphs throughout the entire design. If distinction between text is not a necessity, move on to change all the fonts in the document.

Changing all fonts at once is easy to execute. Completing an all-font change is typically done when the fonts are styled consistently. Headings and subheadings are not important for breaks in the design, and all the fonts use the same style. An advertisement with a single block of text is a typical example, but content-heavy designs with paragraphs can also call for a single font.

To change all fonts, begin by doing a Select All through the toolbar. Alternatively, press Ctrl+A on the keyboard for an InDesign select all text in document command. Access the primary toolbar and select Font followed by Find Fonts in the dialogue box. Click Replace With to open a list of font options for the new styling choice.

Browse through the Font Family and Styling options and find an appropriate replacement. Remember, if the font does not exist on the computer, it won't function when the design is saved. Search for fonts that do not require a replacement after the work is completed. Finally, click Change All to make the font change and click Done to exit the dialogue box.

While executing a Change All for fonts is simple, it removes font formatting used with headings and special text. Using paragraph styles makes it far easier to adjust fonts on the fly while designing a document. Paragraph styling uses presets to access your favorite font styles used in different design elements.

The basic paragraph style is automatically applied, but you can edit this style to suit your needs. While it cannot be renamed, the styling is easily customized for use moving forward. Next Style is also an option to consider for quick font changes while transitioning between paragraphs and titles.

Next style settings are available for Heading 1, Heading 2, paragraph and more. It prevents the need to custom set each font and makes it a breeze to quickly adjust font family and styling for specific design elements.