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What Is the Purpose of the Character Panel in Photoshop?

Last updated on September 24, 2022 @ 2:28 pm

The Character panel in Photoshop provides quick access to a variety of character-level formatting options. You can use the Character panel to format text layers, text selections, or individual characters.

The Character panel lets you change the following text attributes:

Font Family

You can choose from any of the fonts installed on your system. If you want to use a font that’s not installed on your system, you can install it using the Add Fonts dialog box.

Font Style

You can choose from regular, italic, bold, or bold italic.

Size

You can enter a numeric value or choose from a range of preset sizes.

Leading

(pronounced “ledding”) is the amount of space between lines of text. You can enter a numeric value or choose from a range of preset values.

PRO TIP: The Character panel in Photoshop can be used to change the font, size, color, and other attributes of text. However, if you are not careful, you can accidentally change the text itself. Be sure to check the text after making changes in the Character panel to make sure it is still the correct text.

Tracking

(also called “letter spacing”) is the amount of space between characters in a block of text.

Baseline Shift

(pronounced “base-line shift”) is the distance that you move characters above or below the baseline.

The baseline is an invisible line that all characters sit on.

Text Color

You can click the color swatch to select any color from the Color Picker. You can also create “tints” by choosing a color and then specifying how light or dark you want it to be. Tints are especially useful for creating subtle variations in color, such as different shades of gray.

The Character panel also provides options for changing text opacity and blending mode.

Finally, the Character panel includes an “Advanced” button that opens another dialog box with even more options for character formatting.

The purpose of the Character Panel is to provide quick access to various character-level formatting options in Photoshop. This includes things like changing the font family, style, size, leading, tracking, baseline shift, text color, opacity and blending mode. The Advanced button gives even more options for character formatting.

Drew Clemente

Drew Clemente

Devops & Sysadmin engineer. I basically build infrastructure online.