Using Type > Setting precise type specifications > Spacing characters and words precisely |
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Spacing characters and words precisely
Using the Text Spacing inspector, you can precisely space words and characters. You can scale text horizontally, adjust word or letter spacing, and keep specified lines or words from separating.
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Scaling horizontally modifies the character shapes but not the character spacing or height; you can make the text wider or narrower without changing the text's height. |
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Adjusting word spacing changes the amount of space between words to fall within a specified range, measured as a percentage of standard spacing. Adjusting word spacing does not affect letter spacing. |
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Adjusting letter spacing changes the amount of space between letters to fall within a specified range, measured as a percentage of standard spacing. Adjusting letter spacing does not affect word spacing. |
Note: You can also use Range Kerning to adjust the space between characters, measured as a percentage of an em space in the current font. For more information, see Setting alignment, leading, range kerning, and baseline shift. |
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Keeping lines or words from separating allows you to prevent widow and orphan linesshort lines on their own at the beginning or end of a column, text block, or page-and prevent specified word groups from breaking apart at line breaks. |
To scale characters horizontally:
1 |
To adjust horizontal scaling for existing text, select the text (not the text block). If no text is selected, the adjustment is applied to subsequent text that you enter. |
2 |
In the Text inspector, click the Spacing button to display the Text Spacing inspector.
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In the Text Spacing inspector, enter a Horizontal scale value as a percentage of the standard scale. A value larger than 100% widens the text; a value smaller than 100% narrows the text. |
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To adjust spacing between words or letters:
In the Text Spacing inspector, under Spacing %, enter values for Min., Opt., and Max. for Word or Letter.
Adjusting word spacing (Windows)
Values are measured as a percentage of standard word spacing for the current font. For Word Spacing, 100% is standard spacing; values smaller than 100 move words closer together, and values larger than 100 move words farther apart. For Letter Spacing, 0% is standard spacing; negative values move letters closer together, and positive values move letters farther apart.
Entering Min. and Max. values allows FreeHand to apply a range of spacing. To control spacing precisely, enter the same values for Min., Opt., and Max.
To keep a specified number of lines together at the end of a column or linked text block:
In the Text Spacing inspector, for Keep Together, enter the number of lines to be kept together. Enter a value of at least 2 to prevent the first or last line of a paragraph from being isolated at the bottom or top of a column or linked text block.
To prevent line breaks in selected text:
1 |
Select the text you want to protect. |
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In the Text Spacing inspector, under Keep Together, select Selected Words. |
Note: You can also insert a nonbreaking space to prevent two words from breaking apart at a line break. For more information, see Inserting special characters. |
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