Please help me to neatly justify all text into one block

[AngelaSwinford]

I am beating my brains out trying to figure out how to justify all text into one neat block.  Ideally I'd like to draw a text box, paste or type my text, then have it expand to fill the box and auto adjust font size and letter spacing to fit the box perfectly.  I have attached an example of what I am trying to achieve.  I am currently trying: draw box -> paste text -> adjust font size - > justify all ... but it ends up with the last line being half filled.  I want it to expand to fit the whole box.  Thanks in advance!

[jane-e]

@AngelaSwinford 

Drawing a text frame with the Type tool, then pasting text will create Paragraph text, which is what you want. The type size and letter spacing will not be automatic. Those are set in the Character panel.

Can you confirm two things?

• Are you using the fourth option where the last line is justified?
  
• Do you have any paragraph Returns in your text?

If this does not help, please select your text and show both the Character and Paragraph panels (Window menu).

Jane

[AngelaSwinford]

Thanks for the reply!  Here is an example of what is happening (very rough- this would not be final aesthetic). As you can see on the last line the words are incredibly spaced, I am assuming so it can justify on each side.  To make it even would I need to adjust the letter spacing gradually until I get the look I want?

[jane-e]

@AngelaSwinford 

What you are seeing is expected when you have large type, narrow columns, and no hyphenation. All of your lines are loose lines (too much space between the words.) The last line has three words and you want them to stretch from the left to the right, so Photoshop added the needed space between the words to accomplish what you asked for.

InDesign allows you to control the word and letter spacing to take care of this. InDesign will also flag loose lines. I don't think Photoshop (an image editor) has the same controls, but I'll check when I am back in my office.

To fix this, you need to adjust the type size, column width, and hyphenation. You might also use tracking (Character panel) to manually adjust the spacing. Another option is to add or subtract words.

If the last line is the only issue for you, then you can apply tracking on one or more lines to tighten them up until the last three words fit on the line above.

If you still have questions, please ask again!

Jane

[Conrad_C]

Yes, some of those options are also in Photoshop. You get there from the Paragraph panel menu (Window > Paragraph). In that panel menu, you might also try switching between the Single-Line Composer and Every-Line Composer, in case it improves how the lines break in the paragraph.

[jane-e]

Thanks Conrad!

Jane