Formatting text

Formatting Text

Tools and Ways for Formatting Text
Changing the Font and Text Style
Setting the Background Color
Text Alignment
Indents and Margins
Using the Text Properties Dialog for Formatting Text

Tools and Ways for Formatting Text

In ConceptDraw, you can modify the text properties by using the text formatting tools

and the Text Properties dialog (from the Format / Text menu).

Ctrl + Shift + T

Cmd + Shift + T

The changes are applied:
1) to the selected stretch of text only, if there is one;
2) to the whole text block(s) in the currently selected object(s) - this lets you set the text formatting for several objects simultaneously.

If you need to set the formatting for a certain stretch of text only, you need to select this portion of text.
Activate the text editing mode (select the object and press F2, or switch to the Edit Text mode),
and select the needed stretch of text either with the mouse, or by using the Shift + Arrow keys.

You can format the font type and size, text color and background color, text style and alignment by using either the formatting tools or the Text Properties dialog. The additional settings, such as the indents and margins, are available from the Text Properties dialog only.

Note: The text formatting for the new objects will be taken from the last settings you made. This lets you preserve a unified text formatting throughout the document. (You can modify these settings again any time as necessary).
Only the action of the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size tools is applied to the selected objects or stretch of text only, without changing the global font setting.

Changing the Font and Text Style

To change the font type and size, text color and styles for the selected objects or the selected stretch of text,
you can use the Font tab of the Text Properties dialog (Format / Text),
or perform the following operations:

- Changing the font

To change the font, click to open the Font Name box and then select the needed font in the list.

Ctrl + F

- Changing the font size

To change the font size, click the down arrow by the Font Size box and select the needed font size in the list. Another way is just to type a custom size in the Font Size field.

Ctrl + S

You can also use the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size tools to increase/decrease the font size gradually.


Ctrl + ">"	Cmd + ">"
Ctrl + "<"	Cmd + "<"

- Changing text color

Click the Text Color button on the toolbar. The menu opens to let you select one of the given 16 colors, or click More Colors for extra colors. This will bring up the Choose Color dialog with a color palette where you can choose among its 256 colors.

- Changing font attributes

Such font attributes as Bold, Italic or Underlined can be set by clicking the corresponding buttons on formatting toolbar, or by using the keyboard:


Ctrl + B	Cmd(Ctrl) + B	Bold
Ctrl + I	Cmd(Ctrl) + I	Italic
Ctrl + U	Cmd(Ctrl) + U	Underline

The Macintosh version of the software also offers additional text styles:
Outline (Ctrl + O), Shadow (Ctrl + S) and Condense (Ctrl + C).

Setting the Background Color

By default, text has no background and text boxes are transparent (except for the text boxes of connectors).
You can assign the background color for the text in the selected object(s) in two ways:
a) Use the Text Background tool and select one of the given 16 colors (or Transparent), or click More Colors for extra colors. This will bring up the Choose Color dialog with a color palette where you can choose among its 256 colors.

b) Call the Text Properties dialog (Format / Text).
On the Text Block tab, you can click on the Text Background box to select a color from the palette.
To make the text block transparent, check the Transparent option.
Click OK to apply the new settings.

Text Alignment

Each text consists of one or more paragraphs. Each paragraph begins from a new line. To start a new paragraph, press the Enter key. For each paragraph, you may set alignment and indentation.

- Horizontal alignment

You can align the selected paragraph(s) on the left side of the Text Box, on its right side, or on its centre.
To align a paragraph, click somewhere within its bounds and click on one of the alignment tools on the toolbar:
Left Align Text, Centre Align Text, or Right Align Text or use the keyboard:


Ctrl + L	Cmd(Ctrl) + L	Left
Ctrl + E	Cmd(Ctrl) + E	Center
Ctrl + R	Cmd(Ctrl) + R	Right

Several selected paragraphs can be aligned likewise (select them with the mouse or use Shift + Arrows).

In the Mac OS version of the program, the results of paragraph alignment appear only when you quit the text editing mode.

If no paragraph is active, the alignment will be applied to the whole text of the selected object(s).

- Vertical alignment

Vertical alignment determines the position of the whole text with respect to its Text Box. You can align the text at the top, middle or bottom of the Text Box.
Select the object(s) and use the following toolbar buttons: Top Align Text, Middle Align Text or Bottom Align Text.

Note: The text alignment can also be set in the Text Properties dialog (Format / Text):
you can specify the horizontal alignment on the Paragraph tab, and the vertical alignment on the Text Block tab.

Indents and Margins

Margins

You can set the margins for the whole text with respect to the Text Box borders.
Open the Text Properties dialog (Format / Text). On the Text Block tab, modify the values in the Margins fields.
Here you can specify the values for the left, right, top and bottom margins.
The values you input are taken to be in the current measurement system be default. If you need to use another unit of measure, specify proper abbreviation after the number (e.g. 2.4 pt, 3.3 in, etc.).

Indents

The indents belong to the paragraph properties. For each paragraph, you can set the right, left and first line indents.
To modify the indents for the current paragraph(s), call the Text Properties dialog (Format / Text). On the Paragraph tab, enter your settings in the Indents section.

The values you input are taken to be in the current measurement system be default. If you need to use another unit of measure, specify proper abbreviation after the number (e.g. 2.4 pt, 3.3 in, etc.).

The changes will affect the paragraph with the insertion point or the selected paragraphs in text.

In the Mac OS version of the program, the results of paragraph alignment appear only when you quit the text editing mode.

Note: The resulting indent value includes the margin value as well.

See related topics:

Adding Text to a Document
Editing Text

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