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Text does not follow path


M

Mgisonda

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I am new to photoshop. I am trying to get some text to follow a path but I just cant seem to get it to work. I am using Photoshop CC 2019. I draw a path using the curvy pen. I adjust the path so that it is just right using the path selector tool. I then select the text tool and bring the cursor over to the left side of the path (near one of the small squares). From everything I have read and seen, the text cursor should change when i get close to the path. (A text cursor with a little wavy line through it.) When the cursor changes, I should be able to type my text and it should follow the path. But the cursor never changes. It just stays the same; no matter where on the path I put the cursor. And if I do click down to enter text, it is just straight horizontal. I have spent multiple days trying to figure out what I am doing wrong.

Any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
Mike
 
Hello and welcome to PSG.

Sounds like you are doing everything correctly. Have you reset Photoshop's preferences?

Can you post a screenshot of your total screen when you have the TYPE TOOL selected? Including the layers panel.
 
Thank you for the welcome. I appreciate your help with this. I have SNAG-IT on my machine and captured a short video clip to show what I mean. I don't understand why the cursor doesn't change. I have not reset the preferences....but I haven't set them either. So they should be the default from loading it up. Please let me know if you can make heads or tails of this.
Thanks again!
Mike
 
Hi Mgisonda
When you have the wavy text cursor did you left click with the mouse before typing the text. You did not mention that step yet I assume you took that step.
Another consideration is that the text color was set to be the same as the background e.g. white background and white text. Finally, if the font is very small compared to the size of the image it may be typing yet you may not see it. Not sure if it is any of these issues yet thought it was worth mentioning.
John Wheeler
 
Thank you for helping. The problem I have is that I never get the wavy cursor. The cursor always remains the same as the regular text cursor when I go over the path. It is like the software is not recognizing that there is a path there...The background is transparent. the text color should be black and the point size is 24. So I think I should see it.
 
Hi Mike
Quite the mystery.
One more tying to check and see if you already have a Text Layer created. Once a path is has text associated with it, even with the Text Layer selected, the wavy line will not show again. If that is the case, then you need to double click the Text Layer icon to open it up and it should show the text insert marker along the path. Also, it was not clear that you tried reseting Preferences as suggested by IamSam. Also, the screencapture you mentioned would be interesting to view yet I did not see a link to a sharing web site to see the video.
Hope you get this resolved soon
John Wheeler
 
that would be because I tried to upload an MP4 and it was not allowed...didn't see that when I tried to upload that the first time.
 
I have not inserted media before directly yet it can be done via the insert command in the reply box. Alternately, you could save to a file sharing site e.g. DropBox etc and provide the link in a post
John Wheeler



Screen-Shot-2019-03-14-at-11.12.49-AM.jpg
 
Hi Mike
I watched you linked video and I "might" know the issue.
The path is selected with the Direct Selection Tool and it is ready to edit the second from the right path point.
Try selecting the path with the Direct Selection Tool with all points a solid blue color and the use the Text tool
Worth a try
John Wheeler
 
Hi Mike
Not quite what I meant.
What I mean is use the Path Selection Tool (black tool in the selection) and not the white "Direct Selection Tool". In your video you one by one indvidually selected the path points with the Direct Selection Tool. If you use the Path Seection Tool, they are selected at once and has the Path in a different mode that should then allow the wavy cursor to show when you use the Text Tool over any point along the Path
Give that a try and see if that helps
John Wheeler

BTW - the videos you post are "very" helpful to see what is going on to debug your problem - thanks.



Screen Shot 2019-03-14 at 12.01.30 PM.png
 
Ok...tried that and it didn't work. This time, Just to prove I am not insane, I also tried to delete the path and create a shape path and see if the text tool works with that. It did. You can see the video here: https://www.screencast.com/t/qEwHMu31QR0 . So it seems to be something weird with the way the path is defined/drawn. I had used the free form pen tool to draw the path and adjust several of the anchor points until I got it just the way I wanted. So maybe that has something to do with it?
 
Interesting problem Mike.
There are certain cases where the wavy text line does not show up for me yet I don't think it has anything to do with your situation and I am not an expert on the tool in this mode.
Maybe some other forum member will have better ideas.

As one last try
a) Select a different Layer (even if its visibility is turned off)
b) If needed reselect that desired Path in the Path panel
c) Select text tool and hover over the path and see if you have any luck.

I think this one is beyond me right now yet would be interested if the issue is uncovered
 
Hi Mike
The file does not look too complex. Do you want to share the PSD file with Layers and see if others have the same problem. I cannot reproduce your problem yet having your exact file might help. Always a chance there is a bug.
John Wheeler
 
Mgisonda said:
I have not reset the preferences....but I haven't set them either.
Click to expand...
Try this before you do anything else. It's not about any prefs that you have set, it's about resetting Ps!

Start Photoshop and immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows)
or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS X).


Then, click YES to the message, "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?"
 
Ok..I tried deleting the setting file and I still was not able to do it. I was not able to attach a copy of the file as it says it was too large for the server to process. I spoke with a friend who uses Photoshop professionally and he was stumped as well. However, he did give me a possible workaround. From a previous message you can see that if I draw a shape, I can attach text to that. He suggested that I remove the free form pen path and use the line tool (also set to path) and then mouse over that with the text tool. He tells me that the line tool works very similar to the pen tool. I will let you know how it works.
 
Mgisonda said:
Ok..I tried deleting the setting file and I still was not able to do it. I was not able to attach a copy of the file as it says it was too large for the server to process.
Click to expand...
This is not part of the process, you should not have to attach a file to anything. This is a deletion process. Something is not right here.

You should not be having any of these problems.
 
Just for fun. Create a new document. Use the Pen Tool (not the curvature one) and click on one side of the document and then once on the other side to create a straight line. Then try the Type Tool to see if it works.
 
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