How do I...?
Why...?
Concepts

How do I...?

How do I create a text block?


Choose the Text tool and click on a blank area of the page. If you click on another text block or a text frame, the insertion point will be placed in that object rather than creating a new text block. You can click on top of non-text objects to create a text block. The text block will initially have no width. You can begin typing immediately to enter text. Press Return to end each line.

How do I create a text frame?

To create frames: Choose Create Text Frames from the Layout menu to display the Create Text Frames dialog box. Enter the number of columns, the gutter space between them, their margins, the pages they should be created on, and whether frames should be linked from page to page. Click OK.

  
To draw a frame: Choose the Column tool and drag the mouse from the start to the end of the frame. Release the mouse to end the frame.

How do I link text frames?


Select the Link button from the toolbar or choose Link Text Frames from the Layout menu. Click on the text frame from which to flow text and then click on the text frame to link to. Continue clicking on frames in the order to link them. Click a second time or choose another tool to end text linking.

How do I unlink text frames?

 
Choose the Text tool and click in the text frame to unlink. Select the Unlink button from the toolbar or choose Unlink Text Frames from the Layout menu.

To break links in only one direction, hold down a Shift key while choosing Unlink Text Frames. This will open a dialog box from which you can choose the direction in which to break links.

How do I place the insertion point?


To place the insertion point in a text frame or existing text block, choose the Text tool and position the mouse cursor over it at the desired point and click the mouse button.

To place the insertion point in a new text block, choose the Text tool and position the mouse cursor over a blank portion of the page. Click the mouse button to start the new text block.

How do I move the insertion point?

There are two ways to move the insertion point:

To move one character left or right, press the Left or Right Arrow keys. To move up or down one line, press the Up or Down Arrow keys. If you hold down a modifier key such as Command, Option or Control when you press an Arrow key, the insertion point will move a greater amount.

Refer to the Keyboard Shortcuts section for more information on how to move the insertion point.

How do I type text?

If you type text in a text frame, PageStream will automatically wrap the text when you reach the right margin. Press the Return key only when you want to end a paragraph.

If you type text in a text block, you must press the Return key when you want to end a line. Text blocks lack a right margin so PageStream cannot wrap the text for you.

How do I type special characters?

PageStream allows you to enter characters other than those shown on your keyboard. Every operating system includes a utility to locate special characters:

Choose Character from the Insert submenu in the Type menu to display the Insert Character dialog box. This allows you to visually select any character from any font.

How do I correct mistakes?

You can erase characters anywhere in your text by positioning the insertion point in it and pressing the Delete or Forward Delete keys. The Delete key erases the character to the left of the insertion point. The Forward Delete key erases the character to the right of the insertion point.

If the insertion point is at the beginning of a paragraph, pressing the Delete key will erase the paragraph mark at the end of the previous paragraph, joining the two paragraphs together. Similarly, if the insertion point is at the end of a paragraph, pressing the Forward Delete key will erase the end of paragraph, joining the two paragraphs together.

How do I import text?

To import text, place the insertion point in a text frame and choose Insert Text from the Project menu. Select a text file from the Open file selector. Click Open. The Insert Text dialog box will appear. Select the desired options and click Insert.

How do I format text?


To change one attribute for selected text: Select the text to change with the Text tool. Choose the appropriate Type menu command or Edit palette equivalent.

To change multiple attributes for selected text: Select the text to change with the Text tool. Choose Attributes from the Type menu to display the Attributes dialog box. Change the text attributes and click OK.

To change attributes for the next text you enter: Place the insertion point with the Text tool and choose the appropriate Type menu command or Edit palette equivalent.

How do I create a hanging indent?

 
Type the text you wish to format as a hanging indent. Select it with the Text tool and click the Hanging Indent button in the toolbar.

Hanging indents are created by setting the First and Left indent values. The Left indent value is positive and the First indent value is negative. The Hanging Indent button does this for you automatically by indenting to the next tab stop.

How do I create nested indents?

 
The easiest way to create nested indents is with the Increase and Decrease Indent buttons. These buttons allow you to change the Left indent value by the width of a tab stop.

Use the Increase and Decrease Indent buttons in conjunction with the Hanging Indent button to create nested hanging indents.

How do I set tab stops?

Tab stops can be created for any block of text. You can set them before you start typing a new paragraph, or you can select paragraph and apply tabs to it.

To set tab stops, choose Tabs from the Type menu. You may wish to align the Tab dialog box's ruler with the text frame. Click on the ruler to create a tab stop. You can move tab stops with the mouse, or enter new values numerically. Select the tab alignment. To fill the space before the tab with another character, enter a fill character such as a period. This will create a dot leader.

Once you have set the tabs, pressing the tab key will move the insertion point to the next tab stop. If there is not another tab stop, the insertion point will move in multiples of the default tab spacing.

You can left and right align text on the same line by using a right indent tab. Enter the left aligned text first, then hold down Shift and press Tab. The text that follows the right indent tab will be right aligned.

How do I copy text?

  
Select the text to copy with the Text tool. Choose Copy from the Edit menu to copy the text to the clipboard without affecting the text, or choose Cut to remove the text. Choose Paste to paste a copy of the text at the insertion point. You may also click on the corresponding toolbar button to do these clipboard operations.

How do I copy text formatting?


Select the Eyedropper tool. Hold down Shift and click on the text whose formatting you want to copy. Release the Shift key and click on the text you want to copy the formatting to. All text attributes will be copied to this text.

You can continue clicking to copy the formatting to other text, or you can Shift click to copy other formatting attributes.

How do I change the shape of text?

Text can be warped inside of shapes if you own the TextFX extension which is sold separately.


TextFX allows you to warp text inside of preset shapes by clicking an icon representing the shape, and to warp text inside of shapes that you draw. You can also set type on a curved path with TextFX and convert text to editable paths.

How do I curve text?

Text can be set on curves if you own the TextFX extension which is sold separately.


TextFX allows you to set text on preset curves by clicking an icon representing the curve, and to set text on curves that you draw. You can also warp text in shapes with TextFX and convert text to editable paths.

Why...?

Why can't I import text?

PageStream uses filters to import text and graphics. Filters are stored in the System:Extensions:SoftLogik: Filters directory. If you have moved the filters from this directory, PageStream will not be able to import text or graphics.

Move the filters back, or reinstall PageStream, to solve the problem.

If you can import other text, but not a particular file, it is likely unsupported by PageStream's filters. Save your text in ASCII or RTF format to import it into PageStream.

Concepts

Article

When you type or import text into a text frame, the text becomes part of an article. Text frames are containers which hold text articles. Articles can flow from page to page because text frames can be linked together.

You can place more than one article on a page. For example, a newspaper generally has half a dozen articles on the front page which are continued on inside pages. Each article is in a linked series of text frames where the first frame is on the front page and the other frames are on the inside pages.

Character & paragraph attributes

Some attributes are meant to be applied to any range of characters, while others are intended for paragraphs as a whole.

Character attributes are set with the Font, Size, Width, Type Style, Line & Fill, Tracking, Kerning and Leading commands. Paragraph attributes are set with the Tabs, Paragraph Format, Alignment and Hyphenation commands.

PageStream does not have true paragraph attributes; you can apply paragraph attributes to any range of text with this version of PageStream.

If you change a paragraph attribute when a paragraph is not selected, the change will be applied at the insertion point or for the selected text. To avoid confusion, always select a paragraph or paragraphs before applying paragraph attributes.

Clipboard

The clipboard is an area in the computer's memory that is reserved for what the user copies and cuts into and from the applications taking advantage of it. Only one element (text selection, bitmapped graphic, drawing, etc.) may be stored in the clipboard with normal configurations. Some shareware utilities might extend the possibilities of the clipboard, but you should be aware that installing these utilities may cause compatibility problems with other applications.

Importing text

You can import text created with other programs if PageStream has a matching filter. The included filters are: ASCII, RTF (Rich Text Format), Wordworth®, Final Writer®, Excellence, ProWrite, WordPerfect® 4.1, IFF CTXT and IFF FTXT.

At this time, PageStream does not include many AmigaOS or Windows specific filters. RTF is your best choice for importing text from WordPerfect®, Microsoft Word®, ClarisWorks® and other Macintosh word processors. All of these programs have the ability to save a file in RTF format instead of their native format. SoftLogik plans to add additional filters in a future update.

Overset text


PageStream will display an overset indicator at the bottom right corner of a text frame if there is too much text to fit into the frame and it is not linked to another frame. To clear the overset indicator, edit the text to fit or link the frame to another frame.

Text blocks

Text blocks are frameless text used for titles, headers, foooters and other small blocks of type. They lack defined right and bottom margins, so they don't have fixed edges within which to wrap text. You must press the Return key to end each line of text in a text block. Text blocks cannot be linked to other blocks or frames.

Text frames

Text frames are containers in which text may be entered. Most text frames are rectangular text column frames with one or more columns. Text frames created from irregular shapes are referred to as text shape frames.

Text column frames are normally used for the body text of a document and text shape frames are used for special effects. Text frames can be linked together so that text will flow between them. Use text frames for the body text of your documents.

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