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About Text Containers

iStudio Publisher is a little different from a word processor - you can’t create a new document and then start typing in it immediately. Before entering text you will generally need to draw a text box, shape or other text container to hold the text. Conversely, whenever you add text to a document, it becomes embedded in a shape, which you can select and work with.

Here are some different ways to add text:

Type, paste or drag text into shapes you have drawn.

Drag new text content into your document without first drawing or selecting any shapes. In this case, default shapes (rectangles) are automatically created to hold the new content.

Place text inside any shape. The shape acts as a text container, allowing text to be arranged in one or more columns inside it. Adjust column settings via the Text Column Inspector.

Place text around the outline of any shape. The shape's outline acts as a text path.

iStudio Publisher won’t add new pages automatically (for example, when pasting in a large amount of text that won’t fit into the existing space). Use the Page & Spread Inspector, Thumbnails, Edit menu, or contextual menu to add/delete pages to/from an existing document.

If you draw two text containers, text can be made to flow between them automatically by adding a flow link. A text container can include any text column or path. You can use the Text Flow Tool to add flow links, which will enable overflow text from any ‘upstream’ text container to automatically flow into a 'downstream’ text container. Flow links can be added between text containers on the same page or between different pages, including between non-adjoining pages.

When creating a new document you have a one-time opportunity to have iStudio Publisher create text flows for you automatically. On the Default Text Containers section of the New Document dialog select the Create checkbox and the Link Together checkbox. This will create text columns, which are sized to the specified page margins, and flow linked from page to page. If you subsequently need to add more pages to your document you’ll need to add any text boxes and flow links between them manually, using the Text Box Tool and Text Flow Tool. For this reason, it’s often better to create a new document with as many pages as you might possibly need and delete any unused pages at the end. Taking this as a starting point you can then delete or edit the default text containers on individual pages, as required.

Related Topics

Adding Text to an Existing Shape

Creating a Rectangular Text Box

Creating a Shaped Text Container

Adjusting Text Column Layout

Adjusting Text Path Layout

The Inspectors

Text Flow Tool