How to Change Text in Photoshop

When it comes to editing images digitally, Adobe Photoshop is the king. Aimed at professionals, its price tag can definitely dissuade casual users from using it. Nevertheless, considering the number of tools it provides, this definitely makes it worth every dollar.

Of course, besides the professional-grade tools, Photoshop also allows you to do some basic editing, like resizing and cropping your photos or adding some text to them. To add text in Photoshop, you can use the “Type” tool which has two variations – “Horizontal Type Tool” and “Vertical Type Tool”. Both are aptly named in terms of what they do, and the “Horizontal Type Tool” is always selected by default.

Adding Text

To add custom text to an image using Photoshop is pretty simple, as explained in the steps below.

1. Open one of your images in Photoshop or simply create a new Photoshop file.
   
2. Select the “Type” tool from the toolbar. The toolbar is located next to the left edge of the Photoshop workspace. You can also use the shortcut by pressing “T” on your keyboard to quickly select this tool. When you’ve selected the “Type” tool, the relevant set of options will appear in the upper bar, right above the workspace.
   
3. Click anywhere on the workspace to create the new text field. Once you do that, Photoshop will automatically create a new layer for your text. You can see it in the “Layers” panel located on the right side of the workspace.
   
4. Now type the text you want.
   
5. Once you’re done, confirm the changes by clicking the check mark icon located to the far right of the upper toolbar. You can also press “Esc” on your keyboard to do this faster.
   

And that’s it. You’ve just created your first line of text in Photoshop.

Editing Text

If you want to make changes to the text you’ve just entered, you’ll have to use the “Type” tool for this action as well.

Please note, in order to be able to change the existing text in an image, there are two requirements:

1. You can only edit the existing text in an image if you have its Photoshop .psd file containing that text as a separate layer. You can’t edit any text that’s already part of an image file, such as .jpg or .png files.
2. The text you want to change must exist as an editable text layer. If you’ve previously rasterized it, you won’t be able to edit the text.

Therefore, to change the existing text, open the desired .psd file and go through the following steps:

1. Select the “Type” tool, by either selecting it from the toolbar or pressing “T” on your keyboard.
   
2. If you want to make changes to the entire text in a layer, simply select it in the “Layers” panel. If you want to edit portions of the text, click the text on the screen and select the part of the text you want to edit.
   
3. Using the options from the upper toolbar, you can now make the following changes:
   1. Switch the text from horizontal to vertical and vice-versa.
      
   2. Choose another font from the drop-down list.
      
   3. Change its style to either Normal, Bold, or Italic. Please note that some fonts may not contain all of these options. For example, a font might only have the Normal option available in the “Styles” drop-down menu.
      
   4. Change the font size.
      
   5. Change how sharp the letter edges should appear on screen. If you select the “Sharp” option, this will provide for the smoothest font edges.
      
   6. Change the alignment of the text to Left, Center, Right, or Justified.
      
   7. Change the color of the text.
      
   8. Warp your text by manipulating its curvature.
      
   9. Show the “Character” and “Paragraph” panels. These provide even more options for customizing your text. For example, the “Character” panel allows you to change the spacing between characters or make certain characters appear like superscript or subscript text. With the “Paragraph” panel you can change the left and right indents or add extra space beneath each paragraph.
      
   10. To the far right, you’ll also notice buttons that let your cancel or confirm the changes you’ve just made.
       
4. When you finish editing the text in this layer, simply confirm your changes and you’re done.
   

Photoshop Is the King

As you can see, making changes to the text in your images is quite simple with Photoshop. With so many options available, it’s really easy to customize any text you wish to add. Just make sure you save the image as a .psd file as well, so that you can edit your text in the future.

Have you managed to change the text in your images using Photoshop? Do you find all of the available options useful? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.