You can turn off ligatures in Adobe InDesign using the Character panel.
Ligatures are typographical characters that combine two or more letters into a single glyph, such as "fi" or "fl". While often aesthetically pleasing, you might need to disable them for specific text styles or accessibility requirements. InDesign allows you to control this setting easily through the Character panel.
Here is the exact process to turn off ligatures:
- Open the Character panel: Navigate to the InDesign menu bar and select Window > Type > Character. This will open the Character panel, which displays options for formatting selected text.
- Access the panel menu: Click on the menu icon located in the upper-right corner of the Character panel.
- Select Ligatures: In the panel menu that appears, find the Ligatures option. If it has a checkmark next to it, ligatures are currently active. Click on Ligatures to deactivate them for the selected text or default paragraph/character style.
This process toggles the ligature setting. When unchecked, InDesign will display the individual characters instead of their ligature forms.
For a quick summary:
| Step | Action | Navigation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open the Character Panel | Window > Type > Character |
| 2 | Open the Character Panel Menu | Click the menu icon |
| 3 | Select Ligatures (to uncheck/deactivate) | Click Ligatures |
By following these steps, you gain control over the use of standard ligatures in your InDesign documents.
