How to Add Text in Adobe Illustrator

Adding text in Illustrator is super easy. Simply choose the Type Tool (keyboard shortcut T), type or paste, and style it. Then you can use the text to create infographics, logos, or anything you want. 

Working with text is a huge part of graphic designers’ workflow because 99.9% of the time you have to work with text in Adobe Illustrator for your design work. Sometimes you might only need to add a title, other times you might create a type poster, posters, logos, brochures, and even on your portfolio.

So no excuses, you must learn how to add text and play with text in Adobe Illustrator.

In this article, I’m going to show you two quick and easy ways to add text in illustrator along with some formatting tips.

You will use any of the Type tool (keyboard shortcut T) from the toolbar in Illustrator to add text. 

Find the Type Tool and let’s dive in!

2 Easy Ways to Add Text in Illustrator

There are two easy ways to add text for either a short name or paragraphs of text. Of course, you can only use one way or another, but it’s always good to know both for different cases and avoid unnecessary troubles. 

The biggest difference is resizing the text, which you’ll see later in this article.

Note: Screenshots are taken from Mac. The Windows version can be slightly different.

Method 1: Add Short Text

This is probably the easiest way to add text. Simply click and type. You’ll see. 

Step 1: Select the Type tool on the tool panel or hit shortcut T on your keyboard. 

Step 2: Click on your Artboard. You’ll see some random text selected. 

Step 3: Double-click on the text to delete and type in your text. In this case, I typed June. 

For logos, names, or any short text, I would recommend this method, it’s fast and easy for scaling. Remember to hold the Shift key when you scale to keep the same shape. 

Done! Keep reading to see how I format the text to make it look nicer.

Method 2: Add Paragraphs of Text

When you want to add longer text, it can get a bit more complicated. But don’t worry, you’ll find useful tips to handle stress. First, let’s add the text in Adobe Illustrator. 

Step 1: Select the Type tool from the toolbar. 

Step 2: Click and drag on the artboard to create a text box. You will see some random text. 

Step 3: Double-click or use the keyboard shortcut Command + A to select all and hit delete. 

Step 4: Copy and paste your text into the text box. 

Unlike the method above, here you CANNOT scale the text size by dragging the text box. You can only change the font/text size from the Character panel. If you drag the text box, you’ll only resize the text box. 

Note: when you see a small red plus like this, it means that the text doesn’t fit in the text box anymore, so you have to enlarge the text box. 

To change the size of the font, you’ll do it the traditional way. I’ll explain now.

Formatting Text (Quick Guide) 

If you don’t have the Character panel set up in the Properties panel yet, you should. 

You can change the font style, font size, tracing, leading, and kerning in the Character panel. If you have a long text, you can choose the paragraph style as well. 

I have made a couple of formatting. How does it look? 

To change type cases, you can go to Type > Change Case and choose the one you need. Especially for sentence cases, changing them one by one can be very time-consuming. 

Here, I change my name to Title Case.

Useful Tips

Choosing a good font is important, but in most cases, don’t use more than three fonts in a design, It can look quite messy. And remember, always add some spacing to your text, it will make a difference. 

Conclusion

Now you have learned two ways to add text in Illustrator. Type tool is super easy to use but you must always pay attention to details. Remember when to use which. You will make something great. 

Have fun styling! 

About June Escalada
Graduated from Creative Advertising major, worked more than eight years as a graphic designer focusing in branding and Illustration. Yes, Adobe Illustrator is my best friend and I’m passionate about art and design.

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