Adobe InDesign CS4 – Converting Flexible Object Styles
Because the unique attributes in the examples discussed in this chapter aren’t included in the “flexible” object style’s definition, you can’t use the Redefine Style command unless you change some aspect of the attribute that is defined. The good thing about that is you can’t accidentally redefine the style, which might cause many different objects to adopt an unwanted appearance.
After you’ve applied one of these styles to take advantage of its specific formatting, you may want to add other attributes and define a new, more highly defined style with the original attribute and your modifications. To do this, select the modified object and choose New Object Style from the Object Style panel menu or the Object Style icon in the Control panel. The only attribute that does not automatically get added from the selection is the paragraph style used in the frame, so remember to select it if you need a paragraph style included.
If you keep the new style’s Based On definition set to the flexible style you first applied, any changes to that parent style will be passed down to this new style. Choose Based On: None if you want to permanently break any association with the flexible style you started out with, so the new style will not inherit any later changes made to the original.