Skip to main content
/2 min read

InDesign: Nested vs. Line vs. GREP Styles

InDesign Document Setup

1

New Document

Set page size, margins, columns, and bleed up front.

2

Build Master Pages

Add page numbers, running heads, base layout grid.

3

Define Styles

Paragraph, character, and object styles for the whole document.

4

Place Content

Flow text and images into frames with styles applied.

Master InDesign at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Graphic Design Certificate covers InDesign alongside Photoshop and Illustrator.

Paragraph styles format an entire paragraph of text at a time. Sometimes you want to format parts of that paragraph with a character style. If there’s a reproducible pattern, you may be able to automate it with nested styles, lines or GREP styles. Here’s how these differ:

  • Nested Styles: Nested styles let you apply character styles to text within a paragraph, starting at the beginning of a paragraph, and ending at a specific character. For example, you could bold text through the first colon. You can chain several nested styles one after another, with the first nested style starting from the beginning of a paragraph up until it finds your desired character. After that, it will apply the second nested style up until its desired character.
  • Line Styles: These work virtually the same way as nested styles, but instead of styling text up to a specific character, they style based on a number of lines. For example, the first line can get one character style, and the second line can get another character style. Like nested styles, line styles start at the beginning of a paragraph.
  • GREP Styles: GREP is a powerful way to find things. GREP styles let you find just about anything in a paragraph and style it. Since it’s a search, it can be more flexible then nested or line styles. For example, it can find many instances of text within a paragraph and style them all. Their location within the paragraph does not matter, nor their order or appearance. However, GREP styles can only find and apply a style. You can’t change the actual character you find; you can merely style it. For example, you cannot use GREP styles to find multiple spaces and change them to one space. You’d have to use Find/Change for that. GREP styles are only for finding and styling.

Start a Creative Career

Interested in becoming a graphic designer? We have the best design school in NYC with expert instructors offering years of industry experience. Our classes are small and project-based, which allows for hands-on learning. Scheduling is flexible, so sign up today!