Please enable JavaScript to view this site.

 

Navigation: Appendices > Typography > Special Characters

Hard and Soft Returns in QuarkXPress and InDesign

Scroll Prev Up Next More
The special characters token for a hard return is

 

&c

 

The token for a soft return is

 

&s

 

They are obtained in both QuarkXPress and InDesign by pressing the Enter key alone (hard return) or pressing the Shift and Enter keys together (soft returns).

 

The corresponding invisible symbols for each type of return, in both QuarkXPress and InDesign, are shown on the right.

 

The difference between hard and soft returns

 

Hard and soft returns are carriage returns that have different properties.

 

The main difference between these 2 types of returns is that QuarkXPress and InDesign do not consider that the current paragraph has ended when it sees a soft return.

 

Only a hard return signifies a change of paragraph. Therefore any paragraph attribute, such as space before/after or rule above/below will not be displayed following a soft return, as can be seen below.

 


Topic 173890, last updated on 13-Dec-2022