Kerning not working

[ennerdale]

I have followed the Help instructions to adjust kerning between two characters, but it has no effect.

[walt.farrell]

There are multiple ways to adjust kerning, and probably several Help topics that address it.

Can you give more details on what you did, and which instructions you followed?

[Geoff777]

On 6/4/2020 at 4:09 PM, ennerdale said:

I have followed the Help instructions to adjust kerning between two characters, but it has no effect.

I struggled with this too..... when I selected text the options I got for kerning were 0% or auto, everything else greyed out..... after a bit of searching it seems you can only do between two letters (which makes sense).

Place the cursor between the two letters you want to draw closer or move apart, rather than select a word, and the kerning option then magically lets you choose or type in a figure. 

If it doesn't work for you you'll need to give the mods/members a bit more info.

[jmwellborn]

@Geoff777 I am not at my computer right now but I believe that in addition to your correct advice, including “choosing or typing in a figure,” you hold down the ALT key and then can use the left or right arrow keys on your keyboard to move characters farther or closer apart.  🤔. Hope I am not leading anybody astray!!

8 hours later:  Note:  I didn’t  include the ALT key in the original post.  Won’t work without it!   No longer astray.

[ennerdale]

Thanks everyone for the replies. 

I had been following the instructions found in Help under Kerning. None of them worked. However, today, after rebooting the computer, they do. Must have ben a little big lurking somewhere...

To adjust kerning:

• With an insertion point made by clicking between two characters in your text, do one of the following:
  • From the Character panel, choose a value from the  Kerning setting, using the up and down arrows, the pop-up menu, or by typing in a new value. Auto will automatically kern characters by default. Positive values give expanded kerning, negative values give condensed kerning.
  • From the Text menu's Spacing sub-menu, select one of the spacing options.

Typically the advantages of kerning are most noticeable in larger text, so the most detailed attention is applied to kerning when creating display text such as headlines or text logos.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts also allow you to adjust tracking or kerning:

• To loosen spacing in 10% increments, press .
• To tighten spacing in 10% decrements, press .
• To loosen spacing in 50% increments, press .
• To tighten spacing in 50% decrements, press .

 

 

 

[OliverDeer]

Step by step of the problem people are talking about:

using the Frame Text tool,
a) i click and drag to highlight a section of text, then I attempt to interact with the V/A Kerning buttons via a click or drag. an error sound effect plays
or b) i click inside the text box, then I attempt to interact with the V/A Kerning buttons via a click or drag. X%, where the value of X changes in a number -50% to 50%. This has no visual effect on the text. after clicking away, the value of X reverts to 0%.

excuse my math-teacher esque response

I am using windows, if that helps.

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @OliverDeer.

6 hours ago, OliverDeer said:

Step by step of the problem people are talking about:

Or rather, were talking about (nearly four years ago).

6 hours ago, OliverDeer said:

using the Frame Text tool,
a) i click and drag to highlight a section of text, then I attempt to interact with the V/A Kerning buttons via a click or drag. an error sound effect plays

Tracking is applied to a run of text. Kerning is between two adjacent characters, so you need to click between them.

6 hours ago, OliverDeer said:

or b) i click inside the text box, then I attempt to interact with the V/A Kerning buttons via a click or drag. X%, where the value of X changes in a number -50% to 50%. This has no visual effect on the text. after clicking away, the value of X reverts to 0%.

As above, where you click is crucial to the success of the attempt.

6 hours ago, OliverDeer said:

excuse my math-teacher esque response

The mathematics teacher in you might like to note that the numbers here are ‰ (per mille) rather than % (per cent).