Outlining Box Text

To enable Outline Text, navigate to File > Options > Drawing and Printing. Under the Map Drawing Engine folder tick the Advanced checkbox.

Applying Outlines to Box Text

  1. Select Create > Text > Box to open the Properties of Box Text:

  2. Choose the properties (similar to point text except for height which is unavailable.)
  3. In the Fill Brush drop-down box select the required brush. Brush colour, fill, pattern, transparency and the normal advanced settings are available. 
  4. User-defined brushes may also be defined. The facility of copying and pasting the brush specification in JSON or XML is also available.
  5. In the Outline Pen drop-down box select the required pen. Pen colour, dash style, width, offset, transparency and the normal advanced settings are available.
  6. User-defined and Multi-level pens may also be defined. The facility of copying and pasting the pen specification in JSON or XML is also available.

    7. Note: It is recommended that round end caps are selected in the Edit Pen dialog as square end caps will cause the text to have a jagged appearance.

  7. The text is displayed in the preview box in simplified form, but it will use the selected properties when the completed text item is placed in the map window.
  8. Type in the required text, press the Enter key for a new line. You can also paste text into this box using the Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V key combination or Paste on the local menu.
  9. Click OK when you have finished entering text. The box text item is now attached to the cursor. If the zoom factor allows it, you will see a rectangular box on the cursor which is of a size sufficient to encompass the text item.
  10. Click the screen position where you want to place the text. The Box Text’s alignment point will be placed here.

    The alignment point is indicated by a butterfly shape.

Box text height

The height of box text is set in real world units. For example, box text set to a height of 2.5 metres will appear the same size as a graphical item which measures 2.5 metres.

After selecting box text, you can change its size in one of two ways:

  • you can change the Character Height property (use Home > Selection > Properties). The height can be set to any value (in metres).
  • you can visually re-size the box text item by holding the Ctrl key down while dragging any of the handles