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You should almost always use styles to control text spacing attributes like tracking and leading, but there will be times when you need to override these attributes. You can of course, use the buttons in the Control panel (or the Character panel). But using keyboard shortcuts is always faster. Next time you need to adjust text spacing on the fly, try these shortcuts, which all use Option/Alt and arrow keys.
With a selection of text:
• press Option/Alt+left arrow to decrease tracking
• press Option/Alt+right arrow to increase tracking
• press Option/Alt+up arrow to decrease leading
• press Option/Alt+down arrow to increase leading
With your cursor between two characters:
• press Option/Alt+left arrow to decrease kerning
• press Option/Alt+right arrow to increase kerning
This article was last modified on July 25, 2019
This article was first published on March 12, 2019
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