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Jenna29032673n8yp
Participant
March 23, 2023
Answered

Adobe, please add "convert to point type" option like Illustrator has!!

  • March 23, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 626 views

Manipulating type feels so incredibly clunkly in InDesign compared to Illustrator because InDesign does not have a "convert to point type" option. For example, when I want two stacked lines of text to be the same length, I can easily grab a corner in AI and scale it in less than a second. Done! In InDesign, I have to highlight the text, click the increase point size button, then manually add fractions of a point size until I reach the size I want and usually have to settle with it not being totally acurate. And then I have to adjust the leading manually. Why Adobe?! This seems like such an easy function to add and would make designing with type in InDesign so much smoother and efficient. 

OK, you can create outlines in InDesign and manipulate text that way, but that's not the solution because then you lose all editablity of the type. 

Also, if anyone knows where I can make suggestions like this to Adobe in a way that they will hear me, please let me know. I couldn't find a way to write to them.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer rob day

I can easily grab a corner in AI and scale it in less than a second.

 

Hi @Jenna29032673n8yp , You should be able to do the same using InDesign’s Free Transform tool. Select the text frame not the text, and drag from a corner:

 

4 replies

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 23, 2023

The other way to do it when the lines are in the same text frame, is to learn the size and leading key commands so you are not entering changes in the Font Size field. I have mine set to 2pts.

 

If I select a line and hold down Shift-Command-> the line will grow until I release the keys. Shift-Command-< reduces the point size. Option-Up Arrow increases Leading Option-Down Arrow decreases Leading. See Keyboard shortcuts Text and Tables:

 

 

 

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    March 23, 2023

    I can easily grab a corner in AI and scale it in less than a second.

     

    Hi @Jenna29032673n8yp , You should be able to do the same using InDesign’s Free Transform tool. Select the text frame not the text, and drag from a corner:

     

      J
      Jenna29032673n8ypAuthor
      Participant
      March 23, 2023

      Holy moly, I am so grateful for your answer here! It seemed so silly that this wasn't a function and I'm very happy that I was wrong! Thanks!

      BobLevine
      Community Expert
      BobLevineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 23, 2023

      Adobe InDesign (uservoice.com)

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      March 23, 2023

      I think you're overlooking that InDesign and Illustrator are almost wholly different apps, with different purposes. While you can achieve most of the same ends in both — yes, designers still lay out whole brochures in Illo — each tool has a working 'arena' and is optimized for it.

       

      Illustrator isn't meant to deal with text except as a graphic element. It's somewhat difficult to layout more than a block or two of anything like body text in it. And ID isn't meant to deal with text as a graphic element, despite its ability to convert to outlines, apply effects, etc.

       

      ID's tools to scale text are suited to a page-layout, text-centric, document-based tool. I wouldn't really want it to expand its "graphical text" functions, for many reasons.

       

      In the days when apps were separate and you did everything in Photoshop or Illustrator because that's what you had, the crossover features made some sense. Now that 99% of users have all three tools... a workflow using each tool to its strengths makes a great deal more sense, especially in long-term app feature development and maintenance. Development on each tool should add features and functionality for its focused purpose, not simply duplicate what another app already does.

       

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