Create hanging punctuation

Punctuation marks and letters such as “W” can make the left or right edges of a column appear to be misaligned. Optical Margin Alignment controls whether punctuation marks (such as periods, commas, quotation marks, and dashes) and edges of letters (such as W and A) hang outside the text margins, so that the type looks aligned.

Before (left) and after (right) applying Optical Margin Alignment

Select a text frame, or click anywhere in the story.
Choose Type > Story.
Select Optical Margin Alignment.
Select a font size to set the appropriate amount of overhang for the size of type in your story. For optimal results, use the same size as the text.

To turn off Optical Margin Alignment for an individual paragraph, choose Ignore Optical Margin from the Paragraph panel menu or Control panel menu.