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RACHELC
New Participant
July 5, 2014
Answered

Making vertical text in Indesign

  • July 5, 2014
  • 6 replies
  • 95514 views

Hi,

I am trying to get vertical text (ie letters underneath each other) in my new CC version of InDesign. All the help pages say to use the vertical type tool, but I can't find this - I only have the Type Tool and Type on a path tool showing. I can't find the option in Object file menu to change to a frame grid either....

Help would be greatly appreciated!! I only use InDesign about once a year for a project so do find I'm having to re-learn it - but usually can get by with help..not this time

Cheers

Rachel

Correct answer Daniel a Köenig

Hi, Rachel,

There is no "vertical type tool," so you can rest assured you haven't gone crazy.

There ARE at least 3 different ways to do what you want to do, and here is an article that will explain most of them: https://indesignsecrets.com/setting-vertical-text-in-indesign.php

In case the link doesn't work, just go to indesignsecrets.com and do a search for "vertical text."

The "Type on a path" tool is probably the easiest way after you've done it a time or two. Just be sure to read the comments in addition to the article for some helpful tips, and other ways to monkey around with this problem.

Hope this helps!

Ken

6 replies

rtijn
rtijn
Known Participant
October 27, 2024

It's ten years later and Photoshop still does this better than Indesign (you know, the program designed for type)..

    rtijn
    rtijn
    Known Participant
    October 27, 2024

    Oh it gets worse.. I just found out that you can't even scale a text that was made this way! Can we fix this please?

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Brainiac
    October 27, 2024

    You can easily do vertical text in a narrow text frame, or a text frame set to narrow columns. And scale/modify/fancy-up the text any way ID is normally capable of.

     

    You could probably list a dozen fancy layout or process effects InDesign doesn't do, but have trouble listing that many users who really want that feature added... not when it's possible to achieve it with a little, you know, non-automated, non-AI talent.

      R
      ra.2077
      New Participant
      July 9, 2024

      Hi Rachel

      One solution is to create a vertical text frame using a Chinese or Japanese version. Keep the file and copy the text frame when you need it.

      Hope this helps!

      Ray

      D
      Daniel a KöenigCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      July 5, 2018

      Hi, Rachel,

      There is no "vertical type tool," so you can rest assured you haven't gone crazy.

      There ARE at least 3 different ways to do what you want to do, and here is an article that will explain most of them: https://indesignsecrets.com/setting-vertical-text-in-indesign.php

      In case the link doesn't work, just go to indesignsecrets.com and do a search for "vertical text."

      The "Type on a path" tool is probably the easiest way after you've done it a time or two. Just be sure to read the comments in addition to the article for some helpful tips, and other ways to monkey around with this problem.

      Hope this helps!

      Ken

        G
        G P Shannon
        Inspiring
        November 20, 2015

        Just had to do this today, in English version of CC2014. Thanks a lot for the Type on a Path tip!

        But there's more to it than that, as I learned from my Japanese colleagues. Simply stair-stepping type on a path is not enough, because some characters are special. These apply to Hiragana as well as Katakana.

        1. The Katakana "—" character must rotate to " | ", which must be done manually by selecting the appropriate glyph in the Glyphs panel.

        2. As well, Katakana like "ュ" and " ィ " that get small to show pronunciation in certain combinations, are supposed to be aligned to the right, which doesn't happen either and those glyphs have to be swapped out too.

        Also remember that when set vertically, the columns read top-to-bottom and right-to-left, something that is not available in the English version and there's no workaround other than using the J-version.

          Willi Adelberger
          Willi Adelberger
          Community Expert
          July 5, 2014

          When you are a Cloud Subscriber you can additionally install the Japanese version of InDesign, it will add some tools to your version of InDesign, even if it si not the Japanese version.

            R
            Adobe Employee
            rajsre
            Adobe Employee
            July 5, 2014

            Vertical text frame tool is not available in English version. It is present in the Japanese version.

            If you want to do vertical text for short text elements like titles or similar designing, you can make use of text on path:

            1. Draw a vertical line (if there is a stroke and you don't want to see it, you can later turn off this stroke from stroke panel)

            2. Insert Text on Path tool on the line, type your text

            3 Go to Type > Text on path options..., select Effect > Stair step, OK

            Now do other spacing adjustments like "kerning" for proper spacing or other alignment properties.

            (You can even convert this to a graphic element if no more text edit is required: select Type > Create Outlines)

              R
              RACHELCAuthor
              New Participant
              July 7, 2014

              Thanks for both suggestions - have had a go with using the path - I kind of got it to work but need to do some tweaks I think - but I will try the Japanese option also!

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