Duden dictionary hyphenation styles

Last updated on Jun 2, 2026

Learn how to apply hyphenation styles to control word breaks in German documents in Adobe InDesign.

Duden hyphenation styles control how German words break across lines. They offer four options to balance correctness and typographic quality.

Before you begin

Make sure InDesign is set to use the Duden dictionary for German and Show Hyphenation Options turned on in Dictionary preferences.

Configure hyphenation style in paragraph styles

Select Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles.

Double-click an existing paragraph style to edit it. You can also select the panel menu icon, then select New Paragraph Style.

Select Hyphenation from the left-side categories.

From the Style drop-down menu, select a Duden Hyphenation option:

All: Permits all technically correct hyphenation points, including breaks that may create awkward syllable divisions (e.g., both Ur-ins-tinkt and Ur-in-s-tinkt).
All but unaesthetic: Allows correct hyphenations except those that distort word meaning (e.g., Ur-ins-tinkt but not Ur-in-s-tinkt).
Aesthetic: Applies only aesthetically defined hyphenation points (e.g., Auto-bahn but not Au-tobahn)
Preferred Aesthetic: Uses aesthetic hyphenation when defined and adds logical breaks for longer words (six+ characters) without predefined aesthetic breaks (e.g., Na-po-leon).

Specify additional hyphenation settings, such as minimum word length and consecutive hyphens, if needed.

Select OK.

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