Vertical text alignment in frame

[defaultgw9n1cagl3oq]

Why is Type > Area Type Options greyed out? I cannot center my text vertically in the text frame. It defaults to top and I cannot find an option to change it.

[Ton Frederiks]

Without seeing what you have selected.

If you select the type with the regular selection tool (arrow), do you have a choice in the Type menu for area or point type? 

[defaultgw9n1cagl3oq]

[Ton Frederiks]

Only area type can be aligned to center. 

[defaultgw9n1cagl3oq]

so there is no way to have the text align on the baseline or middle of the text frame? Maybe I'm thinking of InDesign, but I know I've done that before

[Ton Frederiks]

There is no area type in your screendump.

Point type has no frame.

You need to convert your Point type to Area type first.

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/creating-text.html#creating_text