Tips & Tricks for Scaling Text in Illustrator

9

We often get questions about scaling text in Adobe Illustrator, which can be a bit frustrating for newcomers. For example, you might scale a text frame only to find that the text within the frame becomes stretched and distorted when you simply wanted to resize the frame, allowing the text within to reflow. Even more confusing, scaling text may work as expected sometimes, while other times, it doesn’t — which leads to frustration and acts of computer violence. Why this seemingly inconsistent behavior? The first thing to understand is that Illustrator has two types of text objects that behave very differently: Point Type and Area Type.

Point Type vs. Area Type

Point Type is used most often for text objects in your document that aren’t bound by any particular shape or frame. You might choose to use point Type if you are looking for flexibility in positioning individual lines or words.  This makes it ideal for instances such as headlines with text effects, labels, and captions that don’t require complex layouts. When creating Point Type objects you define line breaks manually returns manually using hard or soft returns.

Area Type is more useful when you need larger blocks of text bound to a particular shape or text that flows from one frame to another. (I’m using the term “frame” here only because it’s a familiar word for InDesign users, but Illustrator really has no concept of a frame.)

The next thing you’ll need to know is how to identify which kind of type object you are working with. When you have the Bounding Box option turned on (View > Show Bounding Box), and you use the Selection tool to select your text object, Point Type and Area Type appear nearly identical. (Figure 1).

A point Type object (left) and an Area Type object (right).

Figure 1. A point Type object (left) and an Area Type object (right).

The trick is, you have to pay attention to the ports — those are the boxes I mentioned above. It’s really the only way to differentiate a Point Type object from an Area Type object (Figure 2).

Area Type can be identified by the presence of In Ports and Out Ports.

Figure 2. Area Type can be identified by the presence of In Ports and Out Ports.

These ports are used with Area Text to help manage “threads” of text, or text that is linked from one frame to another. It works just like InDesign, and different icons in the in or out ports indicate functionality (Figure 3).

Ports are used to control the flow of type between frames.

Figure 3. Ports are used to control the flow of type between frames.

Scaling Point Type

Now that you know how to identify the two kinds of Type objects, you can understand how to scale them and get the results you expect. Point Type has no frame or shape that holds it. Therefore, scaling Point Type will always result in the text size changing — after all, you are scaling the text (Figure 4).

Scaling a Point Type object always scales the text.

Figure 4. Scaling a Point Type object always scales the text.

Tip: To prevent Point Type from becoming distorted while scaling, hold the Shift key to constrain the proportions of the text object.

Scaling Area Type

Unlike scaling a Point Type object, if you use the Selection tool to scale an Area Type object, the object itself will scale, but the text within the object will not scale. Instead, the text will reflow to fit within the new shape (Figure 5).

Scaling an Area Type will not scale the text inside.

Figure 5. Scaling an Area Type will not scale the text inside.

A nice little feature is that while you’re scaling an Area Type object, Illustrator previews live how the text will reflow. (InDesign can also do that if you click, hold for a second or two, and then start dragging.)
However, if you’re like me, you’ll also want to use the Transform or Control panels to resize Area Type frames numerically, to fit a specific dimension. But when you do so, you’ll notice that the text within the Area Type object also scales. Is there no way to scale an Area Type frame numerically without scaling the text within it?

There are two ways:

  1. Double-click on the Area Type object to select all the text. Copy. Apply your scale numerically, then select all, and paste. Silly, right? That’s why there’s option 2…
  2. Use the Direct Selection tool to select only the side of the frame (Figure 6). Now when you apply a numerical scale via the Transform or Control panel, the scale will apply to the frame, and the text within will reflow as expected.
Use the Direct Selection tool to select only the frame of the text.

Figure 6. Use the Direct Selection tool to select only the frame of the text.

  • anonymous says:

    Hi Mordy:
    In your article you say “A nice little feature is that while you’re scaling an Area Type object, Illustrator previews live how the text will reflow. (InDesign can also do that if you click, hold for a second or two, and then start dragging.)” Unless you’ve got some specially enhanced version of ID, I think you’ll find that InDesign has no comparable text reflow preview as in AI. Yes, holding the mouse a sec before dragging will allow you to see your text dynamically resize, but that’s not exactly the same (or as useful) as Illustrator’s reflow preview. Otherwise, you’re right as rain on everything else!
    Scott

  • anonymous says:

    Thanks for doing this

  • Anonymous says:

    Beautifully explained! I can’t wait to get to work tomorrow to try it out. I wasted all afternoon trying to figure out how to resize the frame without scaling the text. The Help on F1 didn’t mention View > Bounding Box which seems crucial to making it happen.
    Thank you!!!

  • Anonymous says:

    THANK YOU, Mordy, for clarifying a frustrating situation. We can always count on you!

  • Anonymous says:

    dude, you’re awesome. i was so frustrated… thank you!!!

  • Anonymous says:

    Very nice and detailed explanation. Helped me a lot to understand the difference between the two text types in Illu. Is there a way to convert a point type text into an area type text (so we can resize the box without resizing the text)?

  • Anonymous says:

    CS6 Illustrator. I use Direct Select. Selecting the text leads to some points on the left. No “line only” as suggested in note #2 above. Now what? When I resize the box with that point, it does rescale the text. What else?

    This is ridiculous.

  • Anonymous says:

    (I know this is six years later but…) Thanks. I have been battling this for a while now and had my own way of fixing it by copying the old original scales back to the Horiz. and Vert. scale boxes in the character tab. Great to finally understand. Thanks from PHX-AZ-USA.

  • Nadia van 't Oosten says:

    And now, more than 15 years later, it is possible in Illustrator to adjust the text box from Point Type to Area Type and vice versa. Okay, this has been possible for a while, but now that I’m reading this article here, I thought it would be useful to add this info.
    To adjust it, select the bounding box you want to change and go to ‘Type’ in the menu and choose either ‘Convert to Point Type’ or ‘Convert to Area Type’.

  • >