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K
Kuttyjoe
Inspiring
September 25, 2022
Answered

Text on path issue, and solution

  • September 25, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 558 views

I mentioned this bug probably years ago, but I have some new info about it now.  There was a time when in Illustrator when you could create a circle, attach some text to it, then you could select the circle independently of the text and modify it.  At some point, this stopped working.  Tonight, I realize why it stopped working.  Its because Adobe added the "shape" feature.  When the circle is first created, its a shape. You can attach text to it, but you can not select it independently and modify it.  But, if you create the circle, then expand the shape, then place text on it, you can edit the circle as had always been possible in Illustrator.  So, it wasn't a bug, but the new feature affected an older feature.  I had an earlier solution of deleting the bottom anchor point of the circle, effectively cutting it in half.  Of course, that expanded the shape, but I wasn't realizing it. I just knew that it worked.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Kurt Gold

Another way would be to direct select the path, hit the E key (default key to activate the Free Transform tool) and modify the path with its bounding box.

 

2 replies

Kurt Gold
Community Expert
Kurt GoldCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
September 25, 2022

Another way would be to direct select the path, hit the E key (default key to activate the Free Transform tool) and modify the path with its bounding box.

 

K
KuttyjoeAuthor
Inspiring
September 25, 2022

Yeah that works too.  I've only ever used that tool for distortions but it works just fine for this purpose.  Thanks for the tip.

tromboniator
Community Expert
tromboniatorCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 25, 2022

I find that the act of clicking on the circle with the Type on a Path Tool changes the circle from a Shape (Ellipse) to a Type object. The Type Path can then be selected and modified with the Direct Selection Tool:

 

You can then (while Direct-Selected) choose the Selection Tool and further modify it with the bounding box, or select the path with the Group Selection Tool and modify the path with the Scale Tool or other modifiers. As far as I can recollect this is the same behavior as always, and the Shape-ness doesn't enter into it. What am I missing?

 

Peter

 

K
KuttyjoeAuthor
Inspiring
September 25, 2022

First select the shape with the direct select tool, while holding modifier to select the entire shape, not just a path. Then switch to the regular selection tool and the control handles will not appear, but they used to. If the circle is still a "shape", the handles will not appear. So, now I draw a circle, expand it, then click with text tool. At this point I'm able to select the circle with the direct select tool, then switch to regular selection tool and the handles appear so that I can modify the shape in a uniform way.  I wasn't clear enough in my explanation.  The direct selection tool can edit the shape just fine, but the regular selection tool will not edit the shape independently of the text, unless you expand the shape before applying the text.

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