Aligning text to a circle For lables

[Joanna5C1D]

Hi all and new here so please be gentle (lol)

So I am trying to create some lables they are circles approx 50mm in diameter

I wish to write text on the inside top curving down and inside bottome curving up.

I have managed to do this but it doest centralise the text i have to do that manually.

It then gets more complicated in I wish to be able to edit the text say top line says Merry Christmas and i wish to change to HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I am hoping to make it :

1. auto resize the text to fit the curve space 
2. resize the text to fit the curve and space.

is this possible and can anyone help me 

Thanks in advance

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

Joanna,

How about this?

1) Create a circle concentric with the label and with a  diameter corresponding to a strikethrough (through the middle of the text), then cut it at the side Anchor Points (Scissors Tool can do it), to have a top/bottom half circle;

2) Use Type on a Path with Paragraph set to Align center and start typing at the top/bottom circle Anchor Point, then adjust the Baseline Shift to have the text centred over each half circle: you can adjust other propeties too to obtain the desired appearance.

To change text:

3) Click the text in question with the Type Tool and edit; you can also change the font size, and adjust Baseline Shift and other properties as desired.

You could also use half circles of different diameters, to avoid Baseline Shift, but that only works if you choose the right difference for that particular font size, and abstain from changing it; or you will have to adjust the Baseline Shift in any case.

With identical top and bottom half circles, you are more sure of what you are doing.

[femkeblanco · Accepted solution]

1. Copy your circle. 
2. Select the "Type on a Path Tool", click the 9 o'clock anchor on the circle and enter your text.
3. Select the black arrow tool. On the circle, close to the 9 o'clock anchor, you should see 2 brackets close to each other (beginning and end). Drag the lowermost (end) bracket counter clockwise to the 3 o'clock anchor position. Your text will be confined to the upper half of a circle.
4. Click "Align centre" (in the control panel on top of the document). Your text will be in the centre.
5. Select your text and press and hold Ctrl and shift and press > or < to increase or decrease your text size until it fits.
6. Paste your copied circle and repeat steps 2-5 on the lower half of this circle. If you want to flip the lower half text upwards, double click the type tool (in the tool panel on the left of the document) and check flip.

[Joanna5C1D]

I have done this and am somewhat successful.

So thank you. I have the writing at top and bottoms and centered as I need.

Am I going mad though is there a way that the text would auto size to fit the half circle or smaller if say I put the brackets at 10 oclock and 2 oclock

as it stands if the writing is too long it doesnt show the whole sentance just what will fit.

Maybe i am expecting too much but felt sure someone told me it was possible.

Thanks again for the help and advice I am sure I will be back with many more questions over time.

[femkeblanco]

Autosizing appears to be available for area type, but not path type, in CC.  (It's not available to me in CS6).

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/area-text-autosizing.html 

[Joanna5C1D]

Thats a poss then can I make the text also be inside an area which would make it work?