Adding text to your designs is about more than just inserting a few words. Proper text designs can elevate your creations and make them stand out from the rest. Programs like SignLab and EngraveLab offer powerful text composition tools.
The Text Toolbox dialog can be opened by clicking the Frame, Menu, Line, or Character buttons on the Text SmartBar when using the Text tools.
If these buttons are not available, open a text compose tool, in the SmartBar, click the drop-down for Default Settings 
. The Default Text Settings dialog appears. In the SmartBar Configuration section, select Standard.
Note: To wrap words, click Line, then use the line length compression drop-down. For more information, see Line Length Compression dialog.
Line Tab
The Line tab controls apply only to the currently selected line. Lines have circular handles that can be dragged to position them. The left and right edges can be dragged to re-size the length.
From left to right, starting at the top:
- X, Y: The position of the line on the sign blank.
- Fixed: Select to fix the position of the line.
- Length: Adjust the length of the line. By default, length is equal to the text frame width.
- Fixed: Select to fix the length of the line.
- Include character white space at line endings: Select to ensure line ending does not trim the white space included in a character (thereby cutting the character short).
- Compression and Word Wrap: Expressed as a percentage of compression applied to the line. By default, the value is 100%, which indicates no compression.
- Line length compression drop-down: Select to control the type of compression and word wrap. For more information, see Line Length Compression dialog.
- Spacing: Adjust the vertical distance between lines of text.
- Relative: Expressed as a percentage of font height. By default, the value is 140.
- Absolute: Maintains the set distance between successive lines in current ruler units.
- Compress at bounds: Select to apply compression when dragging a line against the text frame.
Frame Tab
The Frame tab controls are used to adjust the size and margins of the text frame.
From top to bottom:
- X, Y: Represents the position of the top-left corner of the text frame.
- Width, Height: The size of the text frame.
- Arrow buttons: Opens the Line Length Compression dialog or the Vertical Compression dialog. For more information, see Vertical Compression dialog and Line Length Compression dialog.
- Fixed: Select to fix the width and height.
- Margins: Enter values to represent the amount of space from the text frame edge, expressed as Absolute (current ruler units) or Percentage (of text frame size).
- Auto spacing: Use the arrow button to open the Auto Spacing dialog. Set spacing to equal (each line is separated by an equal portion), weighted (indicate extra spacing for the last line), top/bottom margin size, and extra bottom weighting (to place emphasis; will decrease the spacing between the other lines).
Character Tab
The Character tab controls are used to adjust the appearance and positioning of individual characters within a text frame.
From top to bottom:
- Slant: Enter the amount of slant to add to characters (creates an appearance of italic font with positive values leaning right and negative values leaning left).
- Kerning: Enter a value to increase or decrease the space between selected characters.
- Arrow drop-down: Opens the Auto Kern dialog. Select style from normal, wide (20% extra white space between characters), narrow (20% less white space between characters), touching (edges touch but do not overlap), or overlap (edges overlap by 5%). Select speed or accuracy. If applicable, select the check box to adjust for an output tool and enter the tool bit diameter.
- Auto kern: When selected, the selections made in the Auto Kern dialog are applied.
- On-screen kerning mode: Select to manually adjust kerning using text handles.
- Character width: Set a value using the arrows, use the drop-down to launch the Custom Character Width dialog (set a percentage of natural width or an absolute width).
- Space character width: Set a value using the arrows, use the drop-down to launch the Custom Word Spacing dialog (set a percentage of natural width or an absolute width).
Note: If the “space” character is not working, ensure width is not set to 0 (zero) or disable Custom Word Spacing.
Menu Tab
The Menu tab controls are used to create a grid layout for a menu board.
From top to bottom:
- Space: The amount of white space on the left side of the current column.
- Width: Column width.
- Space: The amount of white space on the right side of the current column.
- Arrow button: Click to open the Line Length Compression dialog. For more information, see Line Length Compression dialog.
- New: Click to create new menu section. Click the little arrow button to open the Menu Section Layout dialog. Specify number of rows and columns, and column width and spacing.
- End: Click to finish editing the current selection.
- Column, row, cell, and section: Use these buttons to insert, select, and delete rows and columns, or to clear the entire selected area.
- Leaders: Use the drop-down to insert dot leaders from the menu item to the price.
- Currency: Use the drop-down to indicate currency and specify decimal use.
- Insert bullet: Use the drop-down to define and insert a bullet character at the start of the line.
Vertical Compression dialog
To modify how lines of text are arranged within a fixed text frame.
From top to bottom:
- Compress text only when height exceeded: Select to only compress text when the bounds of the frame are exceeded.
- Always compress or expand text to fit height: Select to fill the text frame.
- Method: Select none, character height compression (modify character height), line spacing compression (modify spacing between lines of text), or character size compression (modify the character height and reduce the character width and kerning proportionally).
- Apply to: Select all lines.
Line Length Compression dialog
To modify how lines of text are compressed.
From top to bottom:
- Compress text only when width exceeded: Select to only compress text when the bounds of the frame are exceeded.
- Always compress or expand text to fit width: Select to fill the text frame.
- Method: Select width compression, size compression, kerning compression, word kerning compression, or none.
- Apply to: Select each line individually (to apply changes only to the selected line), all lines equally (within the frame), or equal height lines (for the longest line to remain equal to the text frame width).
- Word wrap
- Word wrap after X% of compression: Select percentage of compression for text to wrap.
- First line indent: Indent the first line by amount entered.
- Hanging indent: Indent all lines by the amount entered, except the first line.