Photoshop Friday! Justified text in Photoshop Elements!

I’ve been telling everyone for a long time that you can’t do justified text in Photoshop Elements (i.e. straight margins on both sides). After all, there’s no button for it. So I assumed (and I’ve read in dozens of other places) that left, center, and right justification were all we had.

I learned differently just a week or so ago, and I’m willing to wager I’m not the only one who didn’t know this. ;) So here it is in a Photoshop Friday! Fully justified text in Photoshop Elements! I love learning new stuff!

Of course, you full version users have had this all along. Simply go to Window > Paragraph, target your paragraph, and click the appropriate button. :)

Justified Text in PSE (4 and 5)

1. Open a new blank document.

2. Select your Horizontal Type tool.

3. Draw a text box (only available in PSE 4 and 5).

4. Type your text (I used the Lorem Ipsum generator for my “greeked” text) 

5. When you’re finished, make sure that your Type tool is  selected, and that you’ve got a cursor blinking somewhere inside of your text box. You’ll notice that I’ve got the Left Align button clicked in the Options Bar at the top of my screen, so my text is left aligned.

Click for Larger
6. Here’s the important part: Hit Ctrl-Shift-j. This is the hotkey command for full justification, and it works in PSE, even if there’s no button for it.

Your text box turns fully justified. Neat! You’ll also notice that none of the alignment buttons are active in the Options bar anymore.

Click for LargerThis is very cool if you want to make column text like a newspaper, or if you want to do some manual shaping using tabs and spaces.

Here’s another shot with the text deselected, so you can see it:

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NOTE:  In my preliminary use of this, it actually appears that all your text boxes will default to full justification after you’ve set this, unless you click one of the alignment buttons in the Options Bar at the top of the screen.

I hope you have a super, Phabulous Photoshop Phriday! :D :D 

Comments

[Vicki]

Awesome! I was cursing the fact that I couldn't doo this last week on a layout. Love it!
Thanks!!!

[Lee]

Hi -
It took me awhile, but I answered my own (and hopefully Melanie #2's) question!
To draw a Text Block in PSE 4 for Mac:
Hold down the shift key. Press the track pad button and draw a box by dragging your finger across the Track Pad
To Fully Justify Text in PSE 4 for Mac:
Press Open Apple + Shift + J
And yes, it does become the default setting, until changed.
Thanks for the great tip!
;o)
- Lee

[Alane]

Whoo hoo! Thanks so much for the tip! I've been wishing I could figure it out and was getting very frustrated!

[Melanie]

Ijust informed my two digital scrap communities about this little tidbit - you have made a lot of people very, very, VERY happy! Just wanted you to know that!

[Mar1anneC]

Thanks for the awesome tip. I posted a link over on digishoptalk.com as I thought people would like to know this.

[Chanda]

Thanks so much!

[Tillie]

Oh, the time I've spent using my spacebar with only half decent results! Can't wait to try this. Huge thanks for the info!!

[Donna]

It took me a while to figure this one out, that I needed to hit the control/space/J before typing. But it worked like a charm.

Thanks for all of your help

[Elisa]

Thanks for the tip. It is so easy, yet if I hadn't read it here, I would never discovered it. I didn't know about text boxes either so it was a double bonus for me. Thanks!

[Chris]

You are officially my hero. Thanks so much for this tip, it's something I've wanted for a long time but haven't been able to figure out. This makes my day! Thank you!!!

[merideth]

wooHOO doesn't say the half of it! i couldn't even figure out how to draw a text box, and justify? fuggedaboudit! i'm so excited i could . . . ignore all my housework and get to scrappin! thank you!

[fancypantsmom]

Thank you so much! I've been trying to figure that out all day!

[justanotherjen]

Ahh, thank you. I have always wanted to use this feature. And for the tip on the text box. I was just thinking that would be a neat thing to have...duh.
Oh, and this works for PSE6, in case anyone wanted to know.

[Cheryl Overton]

Thank you!!!! Love your blog :)

[aviso]

Unfortunately this does not work in PSE 6 :(

[Lolly]

You absolute legend of a woman.

[inquisitive]

Really Really Thank you.

I searched a lot about this problem , all of them tried to explain this solution but they couldn't .
I congratulate you cos of your clear writing , solution method and attached pictures.

I've translated your explanation to Persian-Farsi and put it to one of well-known Iranian Forums for my Iranian patiots.

Take Care
yours
E.KH

[Beverly Tank]

Thank you for sharing this tip!

[Robert Davidson]

Can't seem to get this to work. Not sure how you create the text box in PSE 5 (or the version I am using at least). When selecting the type tool the only option I have is to type. Resizing the box affects the text and the text is not kept within the bounds of the bounding box. Help please!!