Skip to main content
April 1, 2026Dan Rodney/3 min read

Special Characters & the Glyphs Panel

Master Typography with Special Characters and Glyphs

Essential Character Categories in Typography

Special Characters

Copyright symbols, trademark symbols, and em dashes that add professional polish to your text. These characters convey legal and stylistic information.

White Space Characters

Nonbreaking spaces and em spaces that control text flow and prevent unwanted line breaks. Critical for maintaining professional layout integrity.

Break Characters

Column breaks and frame breaks that control document structure and layout flow. Essential tools for complex multi-column designs.

Special Characters & the Glyphs Panel

Professional typography demands precision, and InCopy's robust special character system gives you complete control over every typographic element. Whether you're working on corporate communications, editorial content, or marketing materials, mastering these tools will elevate your typography from basic to professional-grade.

Inserting Special Characters

  • Access essential typographic symbols—copyright marks, trademark symbols, em dashes, ellipses, and more—through Type > Insert Special Character. These professionally crafted characters ensure consistency across your documents and maintain proper typographic standards that readers expect from quality publications.

  • Control spacing with precision using Type > Insert White Space. This menu provides nonbreaking spaces (essential for preventing awkward line breaks), em spaces, en spaces, thin spaces, and other specialized spacing characters that give you granular control over your text flow and visual hierarchy.

  • Manage document flow and layout structure through Type > Insert Break Character. Column breaks, frame breaks, page breaks, and other structural elements help you control exactly how content flows across pages and frames—critical for maintaining professional layouts in complex documents.

  • When standard menus don't contain the character you need, the Glyphs panel becomes your comprehensive character library. This powerful tool gives you access to every character available in any font, including specialized symbols, international characters, and OpenType alternates that can transform ordinary text into sophisticated typography.

For characters not found in the standard menus—or when you need to explore a font's complete character set—the Glyphs panel provides comprehensive access to every available glyph.

Quick Access to Special Characters

1

Navigate to Type Menu

Access the Type menu in your application's main menu bar to reveal character insertion options.

2

Select Character Category

Choose between Insert Special Character, Insert White Space, or Insert Break Character based on your needs.

3

Choose Your Character

Browse the submenu options to find the specific character you need for your design project.

Professional Typography Tip

When standard menu options don't have the character you need, the Glyphs panel provides access to every character in any font, making it an essential tool for advanced typography work.

Inserting Characters Using the Glyphs Panel

  1. Position your text cursor type cursor edit text precisely where you want to insert the special character. The character will appear exactly at this insertion point, maintaining your text flow and formatting.

  2. Open the Glyphs panel by navigating to Type > Glyphs. This comprehensive character browser displays every available glyph in your selected font, organized in an intuitive grid format.

    glyphs panel

  3. The panel automatically displays characters from the font currently active at your cursor position. To explore different typefaces, use the font dropdown menu at the bottom left of the panel. This feature is particularly valuable when you need to compare how different fonts render specific characters or when searching for fonts that include specialized symbols.

  4. Optimize your character selection process using the Zoom In glyphs panel zoom in and Zoom Out buttons glyphs panel zoom out located at the bottom right of the panel. Larger previews help you distinguish between similar characters and ensure you're selecting exactly the right glyph—especially important when working with mathematical symbols, accented characters, or decorative elements.

  5. Double-click your desired character to insert it instantly at the cursor position. The character adopts the formatting of the surrounding text, maintaining consistency with your document's typography while adding the precise special character you need.

Glyphs Panel Workflow

1

Position Text Cursor

Place your cursor exactly where you want the special character to appear in your text.

2

Open Glyphs Panel

Navigate to Type menu and select Glyphs to open the comprehensive character panel.

3

Select Font if Needed

The panel defaults to your current font, but you can change it using the dropdown at the bottom left.

4

Adjust Preview Size

Use Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons at bottom right to get the perfect view of character details.

5

Insert Character

Double-click your desired character to instantly insert it at the cursor position.

Font Consistency

The Glyphs panel automatically matches the font of your current text selection, ensuring typographic consistency throughout your document without manual font switching.

Glyphs Panel Best Practices

0/4

Key Takeaways

1Special characters like copyright symbols and em dashes are accessible through the Type menu's Insert Special Character option
2White space characters including nonbreaking spaces and em spaces prevent layout issues and are found under Insert White Space
3Break characters for columns and frames control document structure through the Insert Break Character menu
4The Glyphs panel serves as a comprehensive solution when standard character menus don't contain needed symbols
5Glyphs panel automatically matches the font of your current text selection for consistent typography
6Zoom controls in the Glyphs panel help identify and select precise characters from extensive font libraries
7Double-clicking characters in the Glyphs panel provides instant insertion at the cursor position
8Professional typography requires understanding both quick menu access and advanced Glyphs panel functionality

RELATED ARTICLES