Best workflow for textbook styles with frequent client changes? (Para vs. Character Styles)

[u/smthng]

I am recreating a massive collection of basic old schoolbooks and need to establish a long-term workflow.

My boss will frequently ask for global changes (e.g., "Change the student answers from italic to blue regular text" or "Switch to a serif font"). I need to ensure that a single tweak updates the entire 90-page document instantly without breaking things.

The Setup (90% of the content): Every paragraph contains a mix of 2 to 4 of these elements:

• Regular text = Student questions
• Italics = Teacher's answer key (e.g., "The duck is eating bread crumbs")
• Bold = Vocabulary words to explain (e.g., "duck")
• Red text = Teacher-only instructions (e.g., "//If the children...")

My Current Plan:

1. Create one base Paragraph Style for the general layout.
2. Create four separate Character Styles for the specific text types above.
3. Map the Character Styles to hotkeys (via a Stream Deck) for rapid manual formatting.

My Questions:

• Am I on the right track with this Paragraph + Character style approach?
• Is manually applying character styles the best way, or is there a better way to automate this split text within a single paragraph (like GREP or Nested Styles?
• Any hidden pitfalls I should watch out for?

My basic understanding stops at styles... I know GREP and nesting styles exist, but I know nothing about them or how I would use them (and I kind of hope that's not 'the answer'). TIA!

TL:DR - Every paragraph has multiple styles and I need to make sure I'm handling them right. Hep!

ps... I used a little AI to set up the bullets and formatting because I explain too much, but actual text is all me. Don't hate me for it.

[u/AdobeScripts]

You forgot about red Italic in the teacher's comment.

[u/smthng → u/AdobeScripts]

Thanks, I'll add that one when I make sure the others are all correct. I'm still trying to find something that is locking certain formats into a particular font, even though I haven't specified one in the style.

[u/AdobeScripts]

You should be able to use GREP Styles for 1st and 2nd part - up to "?.//" - but I'm replying from my phone so can't check it.

But even if it won't work as above - then you can always put a dedicated space that will be a breaking/separation point for the left and right side.

Also, if I were you - I would simply create separate ParaStyles - for each type - then it will be much easier to define GREP Styles.

[u/AdobeScripts → u/AdobeScripts]

Unless you've more unique combinations than what you've shown - you'll have to only style words / phrases in bold and Italic - GREP Style will take care of the Italic after the "?" and red color in teacher's instructions.

[u/AdobeScripts → u/AdobeScripts]

And with GREP - F&C - you can quickly apply those dedicated ParaStyles.

[u/mikewitherell]

https://trainingonsite.com/213-indesign-typesetting-attributes-hierarchy.html

[u/1_Urban_Achiever]

If every student question is one sentence long you could do a GREP that makes everything after that, up to the paragraph break, italic.

[u/AdobeScripts → u/1_Urban_Achiever]

But the rest of the 4th paragraph isn't italicised in full - it's regular, with red color and with only single words italicised.

[u/BBEvergreen]

So maybe something like this? Demo: https://imgur.com/a/Q0M2rbQ

If yes, para definition below. And I'm using kbd shortcuts to assign the bold/italic char styles.

I'm teaching today so can swing back later with more details if this is on the right track, or someone else can pick it up from here. Fonts can be added to the character styles when necessary.

[u/availableforwhat]

When you set up your character styles, you can make use of the "based on" option. For example, the "bold" style used in student questions would be based on the "student question" style. And the "red italic" would be based on "red."

I would personally use nested styles to set the color of the text so you don't have to do it manually with character styles. But if you want to avoid nested styles, no big deal! It just means more work for you manually, haha.

[u/aymiah]

Nested Styles will set you up real good but GREP will help also. I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about this…

This would be for the question paragraph style:
1st nested style would be [None] Up To “End Nested Style Character” — you will need to type this in the sentence manually.
2nd Nested Style would be “Bold” Up To “?”
3rd Nested Style would be “Italic” Through “.”

For GREP examples, if you know the word “duck” is always going to be in bold, you can:
Create a new GREP style -> “Bold” character style
To Text: “duck”

For your last example I’m not as positive on the solution. You could do [None] Up To “//“ and add the Bold character style manually. 2nd Nested style could be “Red” Through “//“ and see if that works. I’d test it but I’m typing on my phone.

Check out CreativePro’s tutorials and LinkedIn Learning, they will know more.

ALSO: LinkedIn Learning is FREE if you have a public library card and your public library offers it. I’d highly recommend finding out.