How do I create text colums in Photoshop 2020?

[Dan Black]

Can anybody please tell me how to easily and quickly make colums for text in Photoshop 2020. It seems crazy that it is not possible. I work a lot in Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and have just bought Photoshop 2020 after using CS4 for a long time. It seems weird that it is missing atogether.

Thanks very much. Dan

[davescm]

For simple rectangular columns just draw out text boxes , using the text tool, then add text inside them. For more complex shapes use the pen tool to draw a path then the text tool to put the text inside the path.

However, whilst that allows you to place text over an image, in whatever shape you wish, it does not flow text from one box (or column) to the next. For that you need a layout application such as InDesign.

Dave

[Dan Black]

Thanks Dave,

Dan

[Derek Cross]

As you have InDesign as well as Photoshop, why not use the correct tools for the job. Optimise your image(s) in Photoshop and then Place them InDesign, where you can add text and employ its wide range of text editing facilities.

[Dan Black]

Thanks a lot Derek,

Normally I'd definitely do that but I have a client who wants to work on the job that only  wants to use Photoshop.

Dan

[r-bin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OeQt4dp5gM

[Dan Black]

This looks great r-bin, thanks a lot. Does this work for Photoshop 2020?

Many thanks,

Dan

[r-bin]

Should work. Did not check.

[AlexxST]

Есть ли бесплатный скрипт?

[PECourtejoie]

It is a pay as you want, with the minimal price being zero...

[jane-e]

At its core, Photoshop is an image editor with some text capabilities. You will find more and more text features that you are used to in InDesign that simply don’t exist in Photoshop. You could discuss that with your client now if that’s a possibility.

~ Jane

[arthur_2824]

// Copy to a text editor and save with the .jsx extension.

// Created by ChatGPT. Make changes as needed.

// Paste code into ChatGPT and ask to increase column to 3 etc.

// Go nuts!

// Prompt user for the original text

var originalText = prompt("Please enter the text to be divided into columns:", "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Quis ipsum suspendisse ultrices gravida. Risus commodo viverra maecenas accumsan lacus vel facilisis.");

if (originalText != null && originalText != "") {

    // Function to remove leading and trailing whitespace

    function trim(str) {

        return str.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');

    }

    // Create a new document with specified dimensions and white background

    var doc = app.documents.add(1920, 1286, 72, "New Document", NewDocumentMode.RGB, DocumentFill.WHITE);

    // Create the original text layer

    var originalTextLayer = doc.artLayers.add();

    originalTextLayer.kind = LayerKind.TEXT;

    originalTextLayer.name = "original text";

    originalTextLayer.textItem.contents = originalText;

    originalTextLayer.textItem.position = [100, 100];

    originalTextLayer.textItem.size = 50;

    originalTextLayer.textItem.font = "Arial-BoldMT";

    originalTextLayer.textItem.justification = Justification.LEFT;

    // Split the original text into two equal parts

    var splitIndex = Math.ceil(originalText.length / 2);

    var firstHalfText = trim(originalText.substring(0, splitIndex));

    var secondHalfText = trim(originalText.substring(splitIndex));

    // Create the 'column text' layer group

    var columnGroup = doc.layerSets.add();

    columnGroup.name = "column text";

    // Set width for each column text box (allowing space for both columns and padding)

    var columnWidth = 860; // Just under half the document width to fit both columns and 50px padding

    var columnHeight = 1086; // Slightly shorter than document height to avoid overflow

    // First column text box

    var leftTextLayer = columnGroup.artLayers.add();

    leftTextLayer.kind = LayerKind.TEXT;

    leftTextLayer.name = "Left Text Box";

    leftTextLayer.textItem.contents = firstHalfText;

    leftTextLayer.textItem.size = 50;

    leftTextLayer.textItem.font = "Arial-BoldMT";

    leftTextLayer.textItem.justification = Justification.LEFT;

    leftTextLayer.textItem.kind = TextType.PARAGRAPHTEXT; // Convert to paragraph text

    leftTextLayer.textItem.position = [100, 100]; // Top-left of left text box

    leftTextLayer.textItem.width = columnWidth;

    leftTextLayer.textItem.height = columnHeight;

    // Second column text box

    var rightTextLayer = columnGroup.artLayers.add();

    rightTextLayer.kind = LayerKind.TEXT;

    rightTextLayer.name = "Right Text Box";

    rightTextLayer.textItem.contents = secondHalfText;

    rightTextLayer.textItem.size = 50;

    rightTextLayer.textItem.font = "Arial-BoldMT";

    rightTextLayer.textItem.justification = Justification.LEFT;

    rightTextLayer.textItem.kind = TextType.PARAGRAPHTEXT; // Convert to paragraph text

    rightTextLayer.textItem.position = [100 + columnWidth + 50, 100]; // Positioned 50px to the right of the left box

    rightTextLayer.textItem.width = columnWidth;

    rightTextLayer.textItem.height = columnHeight;

    // Position group 100px from the top of the document

    var groupTop = 100;

    columnGroup.translate(0, groupTop - columnGroup.bounds[1]);

    // Remove the original text layer

    originalTextLayer.remove();

} else {

    alert("No text was entered. Script canceled.");

}

// Place saved file in ...\Presets\Scripts\