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Instantly remove multiple spaces and multiple returns

The one feature of InDesign that's saved me the most time and stress is also the most strangely named: GREP.

GREP is actually a programming language, but that's not what's interesting about it from my perspective – it's what it can do. Namely, remove all the multiple spaces and extra returns from (imported text), in seconds.

To find it, choose Edit > Find / Change, then press the GREP button:

The "R" and "P" in GREP stand for "Repeating" and "Pattern", which is why it can search for what we are looking for. There's so much that GREP can be used for, way beyond the scope of this page – if you want to learn more about GREP, check out this excellent resource.

To reveal what we're looking for press on the Query dropdown menu:

As you can see, you can let GREP search for multiple returns and replace them with a single one, and do the same for spaces too.

I typically do this before I do anything else, when importing text into InDesign. I hope you find it useful too.

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