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Fractions — Please help!

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 26, 2022
3 replies
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Hello,

Does anybody know if it is possible to write arbitrary fractions (i.e. any numbers I want) in Photoshop (or other Adobe software... or Microsoft Word?) with any font that I want?

Thank you.

macOS

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Correct answer jane-e

Does anybody know if it is possible to write arbitrary fractions in Photoshop with any font that I want?
By @Thomas22842972ml5u

No, you cannot create fractions in any typeface you want — you can only do so if the type designer created a numerator, denominator, and solidus. Only OpenType fonts will have fractions, and even then not all of them do.

Character panel > OpenType > Fractions OR click select the fraction and click the fraction button (1/2) at the bottom right of the Character panel.

You can also do real fractions in InDesign and Illustrator.

If the fraction button (1/2) is grayed out as in this next screenshot, then the designer did not create it.

Jane

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

It sounds like you are looking for complete flexibility with fractions. i.e. 17/32 so this would not be helpful, but Windows Alt can be useful. I use them constantly.

The Ariel font range can do ¼ , ½ and ¾ as apparently can this forum's default font. You use them by Holding down the Alt key and typing the code. I have no idea if they work with OSX using the Opt key (Google tells me that they do). This list shows all the Alt codes

In Photoshop I used the Type tool directly to produce

My most used Alt codes are

M dash Alt 0151 —

Degrees symbol Alt 0176 °

GB pound Alt 0163 £

Would it be too inconvenient to create the fractions as shapes and save them to a CC Library? Type layers can be converted to vector shapes and edited, so it would be easy to do.

T

Thomas22842972ml5uAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for your answer. I'm working on a Mac.

I'm curious about your suggestion regarding the CC library. Does this also work in Illustrator? What stepsw would this involve?

All best,

Thomas

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

Create the graphic you want and save it as a Library item. https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/libraries.html

jane-e

Correct answer

Community Expert

Does anybody know if it is possible to write arbitrary fractions in Photoshop with any font that I want?
By @Thomas22842972ml5u

No, you cannot create fractions in any typeface you want — you can only do so if the type designer created a numerator, denominator, and solidus. Only OpenType fonts will have fractions, and even then not all of them do.

Character panel > OpenType > Fractions OR click select the fraction and click the fraction button (1/2) at the bottom right of the Character panel.

You can also do real fractions in InDesign and Illustrator.

If the fraction button (1/2) is grayed out as in this next screenshot, then the designer did not create it.

Jane

T

Thomas22842972ml5uAuthor

Known Participant

Hello,

Thanks for your informative response. Here is what I can see when I open the character panel:

Does this mean that the font doesn't support arbitrary fractions? Or have I not accessed the correct tools in Illustrator? (I have the .otf version of this font installed.)

Thank you.

jane-e

Community Expert

Hi @Thomas22842972ml5u

You asked about fractions in Photoshop before and now you are in Illustrator.

In Illustrator, you need the OpenType panel (Window menu > Type > OpenType) and not the Character panel. The fraction button is in the bottom right and the fraction command is in the panel menu.

Notice in the panel menu below that some OpenType attributes are gray. Those are the ones the type designer did not include when he/she designed the typeface. If either is gray, then your typeface does not support fractions.