Copyfitting text

InCopy keeps track of several text statistics and makes this data available in the Copyfit Info toolbar. As you write your story, the Copyfit Info toolbar automatically displays the number of lines, words, and characters, and the vertical depth at the bottom of the work area for both linked and stand-alone stories in Galley and Layout views.

For linked InCopy documents or for stand-alone documents with a Depth setting, the Copyfit Progress Info box indicates the precise amount by which a story is too long or too short. If the story doesn’t fill the frames assigned to it, the copyfit box turns blue and displays a count. The length of the blue bar indicates roughly what percentage of the frame is currently filled with text. The shorter the blue bar, the more text you need to add to fill the space.

If the text overflows the assigned frame space, a copyfit line indicates where overset text begins, and the Copyfit Progress Info box turns red and displays the amount you need to cut to fit copy into the frame. (See Editing overset text.)

The Copyfit Info toolbar also includes options for displaying the number of lines, words, and characters, and the vertical depth in the current selection, from the beginning of the current story to the current insertion point, or from the current insertion point to the end of the current story. (See Customize Copyfit Info settings.)

When you show hidden characters (choose Type > Show Hidden Characters), InCopy displays a number sign (#) at the end of the last character to indicate the end of the text flow for a story. (See View hidden characters.)

Customize Copyfit Info settings

• To add Copyfit Info controls, click the triangle on the right side of the Copyfit Info toolbar, choose Customize, select which items you want to appear in the toolbar, and then click OK.
• To include footnote text in text statistics, choose Include Footnotes In Text Statistics from the Copyfit Info toolbar menu.
• To define word count based on a specified number of characters rather than actual words, choose Define Word Count from the Copyfit Info toolbar menu, select Count Every, specify the number of characters, and click OK.
• To stop updating text statistics while you type, turn off Update Info Automatically from the Copyfit Info toolbar menu.
• To display additional statistics such as kanji, kana, and romanji characters, choose Show Details from the Copyfit Info toolbar menu.

Editing overset text

If a story is linked to an InDesign layout, the story is limited to the frames the designer specifies. If you specified a Depth setting when creating a stand-alone InCopy document, the story is limited to that depth. When you type more than the allowed length of text, the text is overset. When the story is underset, there is space available to be filled with text. As you write and edit, you can tell when your story fits perfectly into the InDesign layout. You can still edit overset text.

In Galley view or Story view, overset text is set apart from the rest of the story by a copyfit break line. You use the same procedures to write and edit the text, whether it is above or below the copyfit break line.

In Layout view, overset text is not visible, but the Copyfit Progress Info box indicates the number of overset lines in the document.

If you’re writing or editing a threaded story in Layout view, you don’t need to do anything special when you reach the end of a frame. The insertion point automatically follows the story thread from frame to frame as you type.

Show or hide the depth ruler

To change the units of measurement used for the depth ruler, change the Vertical setting in Units & Increments Preferences.