Create and edit a Profile

Profiles are only available for Typefiter 5 Professional subscribers. Learn more about Typefitter 5 editions.

Typefitter automatically fixes problems with your type using Profiles. A Profile contains a set of rules that defines what kind of problems Typefitter will catch.

Create a Profile

1. Open the Typefitter panel (Window → Typefitter).
2. Click the panel menu and choose New Typefitter Profile.

When you create a Profile, you configure the:

•  Copyfit slider
• Automated rules
• Rule defaults

Set limits for the Copyfit slider

The Copyfit slider tightens or loosens text by adjusting how InDesign spaces text. When you set up a Profile, you set the number of steps (increments) and the Copyfit slider adjusts the justification (H&J) settings.

To adjust the maximum range of adjustments that Typefitter can make to each attribute, enter a percentage in the Minimum and Maximum columns.

Both values are relative, which means Typefitter will decrease or increase the type attribute up to the percentage you set. For example, if word spacing in InDesign is 1 pt, and the decrease and increase limits are ±10% in Typefitter, Typefitter can nudge the word spacing anywhere between 0.9-1.1 pts.

The Increment values are read-only and are calculated by dividing double the Copyfit slider limit value into the range between the Minimum and Maximum values for Word Spacing, Letter Spacing, Glyph Scaling, and Tracking.

The default values for the Copyfit slider are:

• Copyfit Slider Limit: ±5 steps. The Copyfit slider limit must be a whole number greater than 0.
• Word Spacing: ±5% (equivalent to ±1% for each increment).
• Letter Spacing: ±1.5% (equivalent to ±0.3% for each increment).
• Glyph Scaling*: ±2.5% (equivalent to ±0.5% for each increment).
• Tracking: 0 (equivalent to disabled).

^* The Minimum and Maximum values for Glyph scaling depend on the composition method you are using. If you are using the Adobe Single-line Composer, setting a narrow range in the Minimum and Maximum values helps achieve a desired result. However, setting a narrow range may not be beneficial with the Adobe Paragraph Composer because it decreases the difference between a reasonable break and a bad break over a range of lines. If you change the default values for the Adobe Paragraph Composer, be certain the values you use can accommodate a generous range.

Define your automated rules

The Automated Rules pane is where you create and organise your automated rules for a Profile.

Typefitter finds and fixes the rules according to the order they are listed in the automated rules list.

You can have multiple rules of the same type that affect the same text. You may want to do this if you want to first try fixing a problem with one set of attributes, and if that doesn’t work, then trying another set of attributes.

Reorder the rules using the up/down arrows in the lower-right corner.

For example, you can set up two rules to fix runts, where the first would modify letter spacing and word spacing, while the second would modify tracking. Typefitter first tries to fix the violation by changing word and letter spacing, and if that doesn’t succeed, it will try to modify tracking.

Find what

Typefitter offers different rule types. You can only choose a rule type when creating a new rule; once a rule has been created, you cannot change the rule type.

Find Styles in Document

You can limit what text Typefitter modifies when fixing violations by defining a set of paragraph styles within the rule. When Typefitter finds a rule violation in a column or a story, it will only modify text within that column or story that is styled with one of those paragraph styles. If the rule is a paragraph rule, it will only look for violations in paragraphs styled with one of those paragraph styles.

All styles are included by default. To remove a style, select it from the Selected Paragraph Styles group and click Remove. To add a style back, select it from the Other Styles group and click Add.

Fix using

In each rule, you can define what attributes Typefitter will modify when it tries to fix a violation of that particular rule. The changes that Typefitter makes when fixing a rule are made as local overrides. What follows is a list of all the attributes Typefitter might modify. Paragraph attributes apply to an entire paragraph, while character attributes apply to an individual run of text.

To add an attribute to the Selected Settings group, select it from Other Settings and click Add. To remove an attribute, select it from Selected Settings and click Remove.

You might find that some of these attributes aren’t available when working on a particular rule. The attributes you can use will change from one rule to another.

Typefitter 5 only modifies two of three justification settings (word spacing, letter spacing, and glyph scaling) (minimum and maximum) at a time. When adjusting downward, only the Minimum + Desired are affected. And conversely, when adjusting upwards, only the Desired + Maximum are affected.

Settings

When Typefitter tries to fix a rule violation, it is only allowed to modify an attribute a certain amount. The Settings pane defines how much you’re willing to allow Typefitter to modify a particular attribute.

The Minimum and Maximum values are limits on how much Typefitter can increase or decrease the attribute.

These limits are not cumulative. That is, they don’t keep track of how much Typefitter has changed a given attribute in total. Instead, they only limit how much Typefitter can change every time it tries to fix an individual violation.

Rule limits are defined as a percentage of the existing value. Typefitter will look at the value already applied and limit its changes to a percentage of that value. For example, if you define the limit for increasing Space Before to be 10%, then Typefitter will only increase Space Before by 10% of the already applied value.

For example, if a paragraph has a Space Before of 0, Typefitter will never modify Space Before on that paragraph because any percentage of 0 is always 0.

The Steps number defines how careful Typefitter will be when trying to fix a rule violation. Typefitter uses different algorithms to find the smallest change it needs to make to fix a rule violation. However, the more precise it is, the slower it gets because the algorithms take more time. The precision defines how precise Typefitter is when fixing a violation. The smaller the number, the more precise Typefitter becomes, and the longer it takes to fix rules.

The Increment values are read-only and are calculated by dividing double the Copyfit slider limit value into the range between the highest and lowest values for Word Spacing, Letter Spacing, Glyph Scaling, and Tracking.

Options

The Options pane contains additional options to customise your automated rules.

Rule defaults

When Typefitter tries to fix a rule violation, it is only allowed to modify an attribute a certain amount. How much you’re willing to allow Typefitter to modify is defined here in the Rule Defaults panel.

The settings you defined when you set up your automated rules will override the rule defaults. The Rule Defaults only sets the initial values when setting up the Automated Rules. If you change a Rule Default value, it does not carry through into any existing Automated Rules.

The attributes are divided into Paragraphs Overrides and Text Frame Overrides. For each attribute, you can adjust the Minimum, Maximum, and number of Steps.

The Minimum and Maximum values are limits on how much Typefitter can increase or decrease the attribute.

These limits are not cumulative. That is, they don’t keep track of how much Typefitter has changed a given attribute in total. Instead, they only limit how much Typefitter can change every time it tries to fix an individual violation.

Rule limits are defined as a percentage of the existing value. Typefitter will look at the value already applied and limit its changes to a percentage of that value. For example, if you define the limit for increasing Space Before to be 10%, then Typefitter will only increase Space Before by 10% of the already applied value.

For example, if a paragraph has a Space Before of 0, Typefitter will never modify Space Before on that paragraph because any percentage of 0 is always 0.

The Steps number defines how careful Typefitter will be when trying to fix a rule violation. Typefitter uses different algorithms to find the smallest change it needs to make to fix a rule violation. However, the more precise it is, the slower it gets because the algorithms take more time. The precision defines how precise Typefitter is when fixing a violation. The smaller the number, the more precise Typefitter becomes, and the longer it takes to fix rules.

The Increment values are read-only and are calculated by dividing double the Copyfit slider limit value into the range between the highest and lowest values for Word Spacing, Letter Spacing, Glyph Scaling, and Tracking.

Edit a Profile

When you edit a Profile, you can change the Copyfit slider limits, the automated rules, and the rule defaults. You cannot change the Profile name.

To edit a Profile:

1. Open the Typefitter panel (Window → Typefitter).
2. Choose the Profile you’d like to edit in the Profile pop-up menu.
3. Click the panel menu and choose Profile Options.
4. Adjust the Profile settings as needed.
5. Click OK