Hyphens, phone numbers and discretionary line breaks

Question

We have hit a problem with InDesign/InCopy. When we enter a phone number with dashes, InDesign will not create a line break on any of the hyphens. We want it to break on hyphens in phone numbers (that is our style). Is there any way to change ID/IC behavior?

Answer 1

Apparently, InDesign CS3 treats the phone number as one object, regardless of the hyphens.
I assume you are on CS3, since the problem does not arise in CS2. In my quick tests, if I put a discretionary hyphen following the regular hyphen, ID allowed the phone number to break but did not double-up on the hyphens.
Option 1]
You can use GREP to search for the phone number and put a discretionary hyphen after each phone number hyphen. (I would tag the phone numbers with a character style while I was at it.)
Option 2]
If you don't like GREP, create a character style called "Phone Number"; search for the phone numbers (^9^9^9-^9^9^9-^9^9^9^9) and apply the style. Then search for a hyphen set to the style and change it to a hyphen and a discretionary hyphen.