Get Proper Fractions for InDesign CS3 absolutely free

Back in March, I wrote an article for Macworld.com about a simple method for getting fractions that look better than the defaults you typically get out of InDesign when using Superscript and Subscript settings. The results weren't perfect, but I could live with them.

Proper Fractions But you don't have to settle for "good enough" anymore. Dan Rodney is offering a free downloadable script that automatically changes all your manually typed fractions into near-perfect fractions in, well, a fraction of the time.

Proper Fractions 2.0 is similar to Quark's Make Fraction command. You simply double-click the script and bam, you're done - no fine-tuning necessary. See the image at right for an example. While the free version works great, whether you use OpenType fonts or not, the Pro version also adds the ability to format all the fractions in your entire document, adds the ability to automatically stroke the numerator and denominator for better appearance and offers a Preferences window for easy configuring. The Pro version runs $75.

proper fractions

Thu, 12/18/2008 - 08:35 — Vicki Rowland (not verified)

thank you!

Creating proper fractions in InDesign

Mon, 12/28/2009 - 07:32 — JakeSterling

I had been struggling to make nice, professional looking fractions for a long time. With InDesign CS4, if you go to the Character pallet, then to the TrueType drop-down menu, you come to an option called "Fractions." This converts any typed out fraction, from the "vulgar" ones like 1/2 and 3/4, to even odd ones like 63/239 into good looking ones (which I can't represent here) with the numerator nicely superscripted and the denominator the proper size, and both numbers at a weight that matches the rest of the font.

Yahoo!

But, if you have a lot of fractions to do, it is kind of a pain.

Here's the solution: make a character style called "Fraction." Then type in all your fractions in the normal way -- but when you get finished, do a Find/Replace for all those that you have used a lot, for instance, replace "1/4" with "1/4" that is formatted with the "Fraction" Character Style. Bingo, all the fractions will be instantly formatted properly. For fractions that are used only once in a document, it is easier just to do it by hand with your "Fraction" Character Style.