Text Operation Buttons

8. Text Operations Buttons

This section is visible by default but  may be hidden using the panel flyout menu item Hide Text Operation Buttons.

a. Align Left/Align Center/Align Right Buttons: Each changes the alignment of the selected point text objects while attempting to keep the text in the same position. When applied to single-line point text objects this is always possible; when applied to multi-line point text objects, it generally can only be done for the longest line.

VectorFirstAid Align Point Text Example

b. Break Into Lines/Break Into Words/Break Into Glyphs Buttons: Each breaks the selected text objects into multiple point text objects consisting of either the lines, words, or glyphs from the original text. The text is kept in the same position.

VectorFirstAid Break Text Example

If the Shift key is held down when clicking the Break Into Lines button, the text is broken into paragraphs rather than into lines:

VectorFirstAid Break Text Example 2

c. Remove Text Transforms Button: Removes any rotation and shear transforms from the selected text objects. If the Option/Alt key is held down when clicking the button, horizontal scaling is also removed. As this will remove any horizontal scaling that was manually added to individual characters in the text, a third method is offered. If Shift+Option/Alt is held down when clicking the button, horizontal scaling is “normalized.” That is, the scale value that is used on the majority of the text characters is set to be 100%, and other values are changed in proportion, thereby preserving multiple scaling values in the text.

VectorFirstAid Remove Text Transforms