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Emin&Trang
Participating Frequently
November 6, 2023
Answered

Why is the bounding box of a text element taller than the actual text?

  • November 6, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 1754 views

Recently switched from affinity designer to Illustrator, and this seems a bit strange. Why is the bounding box of a text layer taller than the letters themselves?
There's no "return" at the end of the line and this happens on all fonts, even on basic ones like Helvetica.
Any way to fix this or maybe someone can explain why this happens? 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Monika Gause

    You can do so in the Align panel. In its panel menu you can turn on the ALign to glyph options.

    But beware: The text needs to have slightly more distance to the bottom than to the top for optical reasons.

    3 replies

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 6, 2023

    There needs to be room for accents.

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    Emin&TrangAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 7, 2023

    Sure, what about that space at the bottom though?

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 7, 2023

    It's for the descenders.

     

    This is the space around letters. Illustrator just shows it all with its bounding box. 

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 6, 2023

    This is normal for Illustrator for measuring type.

    Do you need the bounding box displayed differently or do you want to input a certain size? If the latter, in the panel menu of the chracters panel you can turn on the measuring options.

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      Emin&TrangAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      November 6, 2023

      Well, I just want to align the "After Effects" text directly in the center of the blue rounded rectangle in the back, but since the text within its bounding box is not center to begin with, I can't align it properly, if that makes sense. It just looks off center vertically.

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      November 6, 2023

      You can do so in the Align panel. In its panel menu you can turn on the ALign to glyph options.

      But beware: The text needs to have slightly more distance to the bottom than to the top for optical reasons.

      Larry G. Schneider
      Community Expert
      Larry G. SchneiderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      November 6, 2023

      Do you have any leading applied to the text?

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      Emin&TrangAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      November 6, 2023

      No. It's on "Auto", and even after reducing it to 6pt, nothing changes 😕😕

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