Formatting text

You can define font properties for text objects, object captions, and data values.

The Font palette contains all of the font properties available. You can define these font properties in the Font palette:

  • Type of font

  • Font size and style

  • Baseline shift

  • Vertical and horizontal scale of font

  • Letter spacing

  • Auto kern

You can use the Font toolbar to quickly define common text formatting properties, including font type, size, and style.

Note: If you are creating objects that may display text in languages that use non-Latin-1 characters, make sure that you choose a font for the object that supports the full character set of the language and the appropriate locale by using the Field tab of the Object palette.

To apply a different font

  1. Select the text you want to change or select the object.

    If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. Do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, from the Font list, select a font name.

To change the font size

  1. Select the text you want to change or select the object.

    If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. Do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, from the Font Size box, type or select a point size.

To apply bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough formatting

  1. Select the text you want to change or select the object. If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. Do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, do one of the following actions:

    • To apply bold formatting, click Bold.

    • To apply italic formatting, click Italic.

    • To apply underline formatting, click Underline.

    • To apply strikethrough formatting, click Strikethrough.

To change the color of text

  1. Select the text you want to change or select the object. If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. Do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, click the color selector and select the color you want.

To change the baseline shift of text

Use the baseline shift option to specify the amount of space to move a character (or group of characters) up or down relative to the baseline. Positive numbers shift characters up, and negative numbers shift characters down.

You can use baseline shift to make small adjustments to text such as positioning copyright and trademark symbols (© and ™), or to create superscript or subscript such as a number or figure used in a formula or mathematical expression, which is smaller than the adjacent text, and is set slightly above or below the line of type.

Adjusting the baseline shift does not change the line spacing or font size of the characters. When you change the spacing between lines or the font size, the baseline-shift position is maintained proportionally. You can change font sizes in the Font palette, and adjust line spacing in the Paragraph palette.

  1. Select the text to change or select the object. If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. Do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, in the Font palette, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, in the Baseline Shift box, type the amount of shift to apply.

To change the letter spacing of text

Use the letter spacing options to adjust the amount of space between the letters in a word or group of words. Designer uses EM units of measure (proportional width of a letter m) to space letters. The minimum value you can enter is -1 000 (-1em). The maximum value you can enter is 10 000 (10em). The default value is 0 (no spacing). You must enter whole numbers; fractions are rounded off to the nearest whole number.

Note: The Letter Spacing box displays Mixed when you apply different letter-spacing values within one or more selected objects.
  1. Select the text to change or select the object. If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. In the Font palette, do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, in the Letter Spacing box, type the amount of letter spacing to apply.

To change the vertical or horizontal scale of text

Use the vertical and horizontal scale options to increase or decrease the size of text. Designer calculates font scaling in percentage units. The default value for the vertical and horizontal scale is either 100% or no scaling. The minimum value you can enter is 1%. The maximum value you can enter is 1000%. Negative values are not applicable. You can enter values that have up to two decimal places (for example, 50.75%).

The percentage symbol (%) is automatically generated when the value in the box is validated. If you type an invalid value, the last correct value is displayed instead.

Note: The Vertical Scale and Horizontal Scale boxes display Mixed when you apply different vertical or horizontal scale values within one or more selected objects.
  1. Select the text to change or select the object. If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. In the Font palette, do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, in the Vertical Scale box, or in the Horizontal Scale box, or in both, type the percentage of scaling to apply.

To auto kern text

Use the auto kern option to reduce the amount of space between certain letters. Auto kerning minimizes uneven spacing and maintains a uniform distance between the letters within a word or group of words. For example, letter combinations, such as WA, MW, and TA, are typically kerned for a better appearance.

  1. Select the text to change or select the object. If Edit > Lock Text is enabled, double-click the text.

  2. In the Font palette, do one of the following actions:

    • To edit the caption and data value, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption and Value.

    • To edit only the caption, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Caption.

    • To edit only the data value, click the Currently Editing palette menu and select Edit Value.

  3. In the Font palette, select Auto Kern.

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