Flash 8 Cookbook

7.7. Setting Margins, Indentation, and Leading

Problem

You want to adjust the margins, indentation, and the leading (the space between lines of text).

Solution

Select the text you want to modify, and adjust the values in the Format Options dialog box.

Discussion

You can modify line spacing, indentation, and right and left margin values from the Format Options dialog box, which is accessible from the Property inspector by clicking on the Format button. First, you should select the text on the stage that you want to modify. If you want to affect all the text contained within a text field, use the Selection tool to select the entire text field. If you want to modify the values for a single line within the text field, use the Text tool to place the cursor within the appropriate line of text. It does not matter whether you place the cursor at the beginning, end, or middle of the line, or even if you choose to highlight the entire line of text. Margin and leading changes affect the entire line of text.

With a text field or a line of text within it selected, open the Format Options dialog box. Then, adjust the values either by entering a new value with the keyboard or by adjusting the sliders using the mouse.

Flash uses pixels for units of measurement for text margins and indentation. The valid range for both right and left margins is between 0 and 720 pixels. The default value is 0, and that means that the text is flush with the right and/or left boundary of the text field. Indentation, however, ...