Text defaults

Be conscious of the text defaults. Whatever options are already selected, including any style sheets in the Paragraph Styles or Character Styles panels, the font chosen, the point size, the leading value, the tabs and indents, the color swatches, the drop caps—anything at all—whatever is already selected is what will show up when you click the Type tool and start typing. That’s why sometimes you start typing and things look completely crazy.

You have total control over the defaults. Whatever you choose from any menu when there is nothing selected on the page—those options become the defaults for that document. You need to get in the habit of constantly checking to see what they are, and of setting the options before you click the insertion point.