When you specify Paragraph on the Text Format property page, the displayed options allow you to specify the alignment, width, tab stops, and line spacing of the paragraph, as well as to turn on the optional Auto Size feature.
The paragraph text capabilities can also be combined with other features of BarTender. For example, one very common purpose for paragraph text takes the individual fields from an address record and combines them into a single paragraph to print on address labels. By combining fields into a single paragraph and using the Suppress If option on the Suppression dialog, you can avoid the blank lines and spaces that might otherwise print on your address labels whenever an address record contains a blank field. To walk through an example, refer to Suppression Example.
When text wraps from one line to the next, this is known as a "line break". In Western languages, line breaks may be performed at a space character, or after a punctuation mark. However, languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean have different line breaking rules. For paragraph text to use the correct line breaking rules, you must select the correct Script on the Advanced tab of the Font property page.
The General tab allows you to set the alignment, width, and indentation of the paragraph. A sample at the bottom of the page shows how your choices will affect the formatting of the paragraph.
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Alignment. Specifies the alignment of the text in the paragraph. Options include:
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Left. The text is aligned along the left margin, and the right edge of the paragraph is ragged.
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Center. The text is aligned along the middle so that both the left and right edges of the paragraph are ragged.
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Right. The text is aligned along the right margin, and the left edge of the paragraph is ragged.
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Justified. The spaces between words in the paragraph are adjusted so that the paragraph is aligned along both the left and right margins. The alignment of the last line of the paragraph is specified in the Orphan Alignment option described below.
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Distributed. The spaces between characters in the paragraph are adjusted so that the paragraph is aligned along both the left and right margins for all lines of the paragraph.
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Orphan Alignment. Specifies the alignment of a short line in a paragraph, which does not take up an entire line. Typically, an "orphan" refers to the last line in a paragraph. When using Justified alignment, the orphan alignment setting determines the alignment of any orphans in a paragraph. When using Distributed alignment, the orphan alignment setting determines the alignment of any orphans only if the orphan contains a single word.
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Paragraph Width. Specifies the width of each paragraph in the selected object.
Opens the Paragraph Width dialog, where you can specify the paragraph width behavior: if the text wraps within the object's defined width, or if the object automatically resizes to fit the width of the text.
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Indentation. Specifies the type of indentation. Options include:
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(none). Specifies no indentation.
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First Line. Specifies that the first line of text in each paragraph is indented.
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Hanging. Specifies that every line of text in a paragraph is indented, except the first line.
For either First Line or Hanging, you can specify how far the text is indented.
The Auto Size feature resizes the text within an object to fit within a rectangle of a specified size. This is useful when the data contained in a paragraph is highly variable in length, but must always fit within a certain area on the template. BarTender will increase or decrease the font size of the text contents so that it fits within the boundaries of the object.
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When Auto Size is enabled, the settings for Point Size override the settings found on the Font property page.
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Font Point Size. Specifies the Minimum and Maximum point size. You can use this option to ensure that the text will never be too small or large. If you want the font to stay at a fixed height, set both Minimum and Maximum to the same value.
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If data for the object is ever too long to fit within the rectangle at the minimum point size, BarTender will truncate the text.
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Object Size. Specifies the height of the text object, or of the human readable characters of a barcode object.
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Alignment. Specifies the vertical alignment of the text within the object, if it does not completely fill the height of the object.
The Tabs tab allows you to set tab stops for the paragraph. Tab stops define the location your cursor stops when you press the Tab key on your keyboard or insert a <HT> character from the Insert Symbols or Special Characters dialog.
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Tab Stops. When enabled, allows you to set tab stops in the selected object.
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Default Tab Stops. Defines the distance between tab stops and between the margin and the first tab stop.
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Custom. Allows you to add custom tab stops in addition to the default. To add a tab stop, enter a value in the Custom field, and select Set. To remove a tab stop, select the desired tab stop to highlight it, and select Delete. To remove all custom tab stops, select Delete All.
The Spacing tab enables you to specify the vertical spacing between the lines in a paragraph, as well as between paragraphs within a single object.
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Line Spacing. Specifies the vertical distance between the lines in a paragraph. Options include:
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Single. Uses the line spacing value reported by the selected font, which is typically slightly larger than the font point size. If there are any data sources with different font sizes, the largest size is used to set the line spacing.
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1.5 Lines. Uses one and a half times the size of single line spacing.
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Double. Uses twice the size of single line spacing.
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Triple. Uses three times the size of single line spacing.
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Multiple. Uses the specified value as the amount of space between lines in a paragraph. For example, a value of 1.75 will increase the single line spacing by 75%, or one and three quarters times the size of single line spacing.
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Uppercase. Sets the line spacing to a value appropriate for text containing only uppercase characters.
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At Least. If the specified value is less than the single line spacing value, uses single line spacing; otherwise, uses the specified value.
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Exactly. Specifies a fixed line spacing amount in points. For example, a value of 14.0 pt will assume a line spacing of a font size of 14 pt.
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Before Paragraph. Specifies the amount of space above the paragraph, measured in lines or points.
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After Paragraph. Specifies the amount of space below the paragraph, measured in lines or points.
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The distance between two paragraphs will be the sum of the Before Paragraph and After Paragraph values.
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General Tab