topic Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 19:52:44 GMT

I am using ArcGIS Pro to update some of our old poster maps. I am trying to dynamically label individual detail maps on the poster. I have a title for each of the detail maps in a "rectangle text" item. I'd like the text in this item to be vertically centered. Based on the Format Text dialog, this seems to be possible. In fact, it works for regular text, say with a marker background, but not for rectangle text items. Am I missing something?

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

MarkBockenhauer — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 20:54:26 GMT

you could try stack and horizontal alignment.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:00:23 GMT

Ah. Thanks. If I were labeling in the map, that would probably work. Unfortunately, I'm trying to work with a layout.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

MarkBockenhauer — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:14:19 GMT

oh.. OK well I am currently testing a development version of ArcGIS Pro (2.3) and it appears to be working... so perhaps a bug in your version.

You do have to click the Apply button to see it change in the layout.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:17:53 GMT

Hm. Can you check to see if the vertical centering works. I've already confirmed the horizontal...

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

MarkBockenhauer — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:18:15 GMT

ahh I need to read better... "vertical aligned" I see the same. Not working the way one would think it should.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:21:24 GMT

And here my hopes were up that the beta would solve all my problems...wah, wah, wah...

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

MichaelVolz — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 22:32:50 GMT

Thanks for making ESRI aware of this issue, though.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

TomBole — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 22:40:28 GMT

In the meantime, you can use Offset X and Offset Y to position text within the rectangle. Unfortunately, you'll need to make adjustments for each text element based on size of rectangle and text string.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 00:23:10 GMT

Yes. Thank you. I've used that work around. It'll do for now, but is less than ideal on a programmatic basis, especially in map series.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

TomBole — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 15:08:11 GMT

Chris,

A better solution may be to set a "Background" callout for the Text symbol.

Here, you can set a background, border and margin as you see fit. This would replace setting a border and background for the element itself. Make sure that the the anchor point of the text element is set so that as the text size changes the element anchored correctly. You may have to experiment a bit here to see what works best for your layout.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 15:29:52 GMT

Thanks for taking the time to think about this, Tom. I actually tried your suggested approach before I posted the original question. The only reason this doesn't work is that you can't set a maximum width for the callout to force text to wrap. Otherwise, it's a perfect solution.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

TomBole — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 23:11:51 GMT

Chris,

You can use a rectangle text element to control the width and set the callout on the text symbol to get something close to what you're looking for. The text should wrap around to a new line within the element and have the callout sized correctly for each text string. With some tweaking you should be able to limit the width as you want. However, any Y offset will not be dynamic and will not change as the text changes. Not the solution you're looking for I know, but hopefully this helps.

Tom

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

ChrisDawson — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:42:12 GMT

Well, Tom, I will admit to having not done that. But I tried it this morning.

This does not really accomplish anything different than without a callout. Once you decide to use a "rectangle text" element, you lose the ability to vertically center in the area defined by the "rectangle text." If you use just a "text" element and add a callout, you can get vertical centering, but you lose the ability to define the horizontal limits unless you add line breaks.

It's fine for now. I've got the "rectangle text" elements set up the way I need, and it should work for now. However, I hope this appears on ESRI's short-term list of fixes, as it is a necessity for making consistent map books.

Thanks again for all your help in trying to identify a workaround.

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

BenVan_Kesteren1 — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 04:43:07 GMT

It has been some months now, I have just come across this issue in Pro 2.3.3 - Has anyone found a solution?

The vertical alignment still seems to have no effect in a rectangle box.

Here is my full workflow

Cheers

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

TomBole — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 13:14:37 GMT

Ben,

There is an issue logged for this - BUG-000121263. Unfortunately, the priority of this issue was not high enough to get a fix into 2.4.

Tom

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

MaryMo — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 21:42:22 GMT

Will this be fixed in Pro 2.5?

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

TomBole — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 22:27:47 GMT

Hi Mary,

Unfortunately there will be no change to this behavior in 2.5.

Tom

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

TimWroblewski1 — Wed, 20 May 2020 11:09:12 GMT

PLEASE fix this! Its very frustrating to not be able to control text like this - I'm facing the problem in layouts...

This has been an issue for 18 months now...!

Re: Is it possible to vertically center text in a rectangle text in ArcGIS Pro?

AlderMaps — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 13:41:31 GMT

I'm working in Pro 2.6. For text boxes, the vertical option appears greyed out to me (possibly until they get it fixed?)

I'm working with a table frame, and would like to apply vertical alignment to both heading text and data text. So would prefer to have all these items aligned vertical center, or even vertical bottom (this is the table header):

Vertical alignment buttons (not greyed out) have no effect whatever. I've tried selecting the whole table, just heading text, just data text, a single field, etc. etc. Nothing. Closed and restarted and all the usual stuff, nothing.

It's not a show-stopper, but whenever this makes it to the priority list, there are those of us who will appreciate it.