Get base line value for text "y", "p", "q"

John -- What you refer to as 'baseline' is in fact called 'descender'. Adobe calls it 'descent'. So instead of myCharacter.baseline, use myCharacter.descent.

You wrote that the letter 'a' returns the correct value, but that's not true: the 'a', like the c, d, and a few others, have some so-called undershoot: if you look closely you'll see that the a's two curves (counter and stem) are a bit below the baseline.

P.

Hi John,

one idea is to convert the text as a duplicate to outlines and meassure the outlines.

I cannot tell with AppleScript, but with ExtendScript method createOutlines() comes with the option/argument false so the editable text stays in place. You would best test the visible bounds of an outlined character, because it could be scaled and has an outline applied.

WARNING: createOutlines() could change the position of a stroke on the character.

Example "g" where the character is scaled in y-direction to 150% and is shifted with baseline shift 5 Pt.

Outlined as duplicate. You see that the stroke alignment changed from outside center to center:

FWIW: If you come accross automatic numbers and bullets or text variables, text has to be converted first to editable text.

Regards,
Uwe