Premiere Elements 14/14.1* Expert and Quick workspaces contain the same Text Menu and options. Before the Titler is opened all the Text Menu options are grayed out except for "New Text/Default Text, Default Roll, and Default Crawl" as well as for "New Motion Title" choice. Once the Titler is opened by selection of one of the "New Text" choices, use of the following other Text Menu options become available for Titler objects** (text and shapes)
ISSUE
The use of some of these Text Menu options are self explanatory; some are not and need explanations and comments beyond that which is usually seen in existing feature documentation.
TEXT MENU OPTIONS EXPLANATIONS AND COMMENTS
Size
Essentially self explanatory. Applicable to Text not Shapes. Open Titler, select the "Add Text" default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Size/Choice of Other, 48, 60, 72, 96, 120, 156, or 180/ and Type. Text Menu/Size could be changed afterward for one or more selected lines of type at a time.
Type Alignment
Applicable to Text not Shapes. Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Type Alignment/Choice of Left/Ctrl+Shift+L, Right/Ctrl+Shift+R, or Center/Ctrl+Shift+C/ and Type. As "one two three four five" was typed, each time from the same starting point, Figure 1 points to the automatic placement of that line of text resulting from each of the Type Alignment choices. A way was not found to change one or more selected lines to another Type Alignment choice without redoing the line.
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| Figure 1. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Type Alignment Choices |
Essentially self explanatory. Applicable to Text not Shapes. Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Type Alignment/Choice of Horizontal or Vertical and Type. See Figure 2. Text Menu/Orientation could be changed afterward for one or more selected lines of text at a time.
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| Figure 2. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Orientation Choices. |
Word Wrap
Applicable to Text not Shapes. If the length of a line of horizontal or vertical text exceeds the limits of the Titler box, Word Wrap enables generation of next line(s) to accommodate the excess text within the Titler space. Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once
on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on
wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert
workspace Text Menu/Word Wrap and Type. See Figure 3. Text Menu/Word Wrap could be changed afterward for one or more selected lines of text at a time.
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| Figure 3. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Word Wrap. Here Demonstrated With Same Single Horizontal Line Of Text. |
These Text Menu/"Roll/Crawl Options can be used for a roll or crawl title whether the title opened in the Titler came from
- Adobe templates - Text Menu/New Text/Default Roll or Default Crawl
- User Created - Text Menu/New Text/Default Text
Image
Tool Menu/Image has four choices - Add Image, Insert Image into Text, Restore Image Size, Restore Image Aspect Ratio. Focusing on Add Image and Insert Image into Text.
- When the Titler is opened and the title has text already typed in, a background image for the text can be added from the computer hard drive (Text Menu/Image/Add Image). When this Image is applied, it will hide the text that existed. In that scenario, Text Menu/Arrange/Send Backward, moves the selected Image to the back so that the text surfaces and is seen. See Figure 4.
- Often misunderstood is the Insert Image into Text option. This option does not apply an image within each letter in the text. Rather, at the placement of the mouse cursor in the text, "Insert Image into Text" inserts an image between the text letters (as if the image were another character in the word. See Figure 5.
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| Figure 4. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Image/Add Image, Finalized With Text Menu/Arrange/Send Backward To Get Text On Top Of Image Rather Than Behind It. |
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| Figure 5. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Image/Insert Image Into Text. The Image Insertion In This Test Was Done Twice - Between S and U And Next Between M And M. |
Transform
The choices for Text Menu/Transform are Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity, and appear to relate to selected text as well as selected shapes in the opened Titler. For now, they are being considered as self explanatory.
Select
The choices for Text Menu/Select are
First Object Above
First Object Above
Next Object Above/Ctrl+Alt+]
Next Object Below/Ctrl+Alt+[
Last Object Below
and they are active immediately after opening of the Titler with Text Menu/New Text/Default Text.
If there are 6 lines of text in the opened Titler, toggling Ctrl+Alt+[ repeatedly selected lines 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 in that specific order one at a time; whereas toggling Ctrl+Alt+] repeatedly selected line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in that specific order one at a time.
and they are active immediately after opening of the Titler with Text Menu/New Text/Default Text.
If there are 6 lines of text in the opened Titler, toggling Ctrl+Alt+[ repeatedly selected lines 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 in that specific order one at a time; whereas toggling Ctrl+Alt+] repeatedly selected line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in that specific order one at a time.
Arrange
The choices for Text Menu/Arrange are
Bring to Front/Ctrl+Shift+]
Bring Forward/Ctrl+]
Send to Back/Ctrl+Shift+[
Send Backward/Ctrl+[
For now, they are being considered as self explanatory when dealing with selected text and shapes in the opened Titler. See usage mentioned under the option Text Menu/Image.Position
The choices for Text Menu/Position are Horizontal Center, Vertical Center, and Lower Third. For now, they are being considered as self explanatory when dealing with selected text and shapes in the opened Titler. But, of note, when more than one line of text are selected at the same time, those lines are being interpreted as a group, and it is the bounding box for the group that is moved according to the Text Menu/Position choice.
Align Objects
Align Objects
According to Adobe documentation,
Horizontal Left
An alignment option aligns selected objects to the object that most closely represents the new alignment. For example, for right‑alignment, all selected objects align to the selected object that is farthest to the right.The Text Menu/Align Objects choices are
Horizontal Left
Horizontal Center
Horizontal Right
Vertical Top
Vertical Center
Vertical Bottom
The Align Objects option requires that at least 2 text objects be selected at the same time before the option is active in the Text Menu list of options.
The Align Objects option requires that at least 2 text objects be selected at the same time before the option is active in the Text Menu list of options.
Distribute Objects
According to Adobe documentation,
A distribution option evenly spaces selected objects between the two most extreme objects. For example, for a vertical distribution option, the selected objects are distributed between the highest and lowest selected objects.
The Text Menu/Distribute Objects choices are
Horizontal Left
Horizontal Left
Horizontal Center
Horizontal Right
Horizontal Even Spacing
Vertical Top
Vertical Center
Vertical Bottom
Vertical Even Spacing
The Distribute Objects option requires that at least 3 text objects be selected at the same time before the option is active in the Text Menu list of options.
The Distribute Objects option requires that at least 3 text objects be selected at the same time before the option is active in the Text Menu list of options.
View
The Text Menu/View choices are
Safe Title Margin
Safe Action Margin
Text Baselines
The enabled Text Baselines option is seen when the Titler is opened. Use of Safe Margin helps to avoid text or object cut offs at playback of certain Premiere Elements end products. See HERE and HERE. See Figure 6.
The scenario would go Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once
on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section. Then Expert
workspace Text Menu/View to make option selections, with mouse cursor click on
wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed.
Note: Having Safe Margins enabled in the editing area does not assure that they will be enabled in the Titler workspace and vice versa.
The enabled Text Baselines option is seen when the Titler is opened. Use of Safe Margin helps to avoid text or object cut offs at playback of certain Premiere Elements end products. See HERE and HERE. See Figure 6.
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| Figure 6. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/View. |
Note: Having Safe Margins enabled in the editing area does not assure that they will be enabled in the Titler workspace and vice versa.
COMMENTARY
Work in progress, especially some rough details when working with the Text Menu options of Align Objects and Distribute Objects.
Please consider the above, and determine if the above works for you to offer a better understanding of the Premiere Elements Text Menu options.
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* Although this work with Premiere Elements Text Options was performed with Premiere Elements 14/14.1, its principles are essentially applicable to versions 11 to 14/14.1 and probably earlier versions as well. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 used was on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit and confirmed on Windows 10 Home 64 bit.
**For text as well as shapes in the Titler, Adobe refers to these Titler components as "objects". The Premiere Elements Text Menu options descriptions given above were written to be consistent with that Adobe terminology.
