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Set hyphenation and line breaks

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Learn how to set hyphenation and line breaks in Illustrator.

You can specify how words break using automatic hyphenation settings. You can choose a composition method to refine line breaks.

Set automatic hyphenation

Hyphenation options determine whether words can be hyphenated and, if so, what breaks are allowable.

  1. To set automatic hyphenation, select Hyphenate in the Paragraph panel. Alternatively, select Hyphenation in the Paragraph panel flyout menu > Hyphenation.

    To apply automatic hyphenation or specific hyphenation settings to some paragraphs only, first select the paragraphs that you want to affect.

  2. Select Hyphenation in the Paragraph panel menu, and specify the following options:

    • Words Longer Than _ letters: Specifies the minimum number of characters for hyphenated words.
    • After First _ letters and Before Last _ letters: Specifies the minimum number of characters at the beginning or end of a word that can be broken by a hyphen. For example, by specifying 3 for these values, the word aromatic will be hyphenated as aro‑ matic instead of ar‑ omatic or aromat‑ ic.
    • Hyphen Limit: Specifies the maximum number of consecutive lines on which hyphenation may occur. Zero means that unlimited consecutive hyphens are allowed at the ends of lines.
    • Hyphenation Zone: Specifies a distance from the right edge of a paragraph, demarcating a portion of the line where hyphenation is not allowed. A setting of 0 allows all hyphenation. This option applies only when you use the Adobe Single-line Composer.
    • Hyphenate Capitalized Words: Deselect to prevent capitalized words from being hyphenated.

  3. To set the hyphenation dictionary, select a language in the Language menu at the bottom of the Character panel (If you can't find the dictionary, select Show Options in the Character panel menu).

    If you set the language in Preferences > Hyphenation > Default language, the language in the Character panel changes for any new text.

Note:

Hyphenation settings apply only to Roman characters. These settings don't affect double‑byte characters available in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts.

Add word exceptions to the dictionary

  1. Select Edit > Preferences > Hyphenation (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > Hyphenation (macOS).

  2. To add a word to the exceptions list, type the word in the New Entry box, and click Add.

Prevent words from breaking

You can prevent words from breaking at the end of lines—for example, proper names or words that could be misread when hyphenated. You can also keep multiple words or groups of words together—for example, clusters of initials and a last name.

  1. Select the characters that you want to prevent from breaking.

  2. Select No Break in the Character panel menu.

    Note:

    If you apply the No Break option to too many adjacent characters, the text may wrap in the middle of a word. If you apply the No Break option to more than a single line of text, none of the text will appear.

Select a composition method

The appearance of type on the page depends on a complex interaction of processes called composition. Based on the word spacing, letterspacing, glyph spacing, and hyphenation options you’ve selected, Illustrator evaluates possible line breaks and chooses the one that best supports the specified parameters.

You can choose between two composition methods: the Adobe Every‑line Composer and the Adobe Single‑line Composer. Both methods evaluate possible breaks and choose the one that best supports the hyphenation and justification options you’ve specified for a given paragraph. The composition method affects only the selected paragraphs, so you can easily set different composition methods for different paragraphs.

To choose one of these methods, select it from the Paragraph panel menu:

  • To apply either of the methods to all paragraphs, first select the type object.
  • To apply either of the methods to the current paragraph only, insert the cursor in that paragraph.

Every‑line Composer

The Every‑line Composer considers a network of break points for a range of lines. Thus, it can optimize earlier lines in the paragraph to eliminate especially unattractive breaks later on.

The Every‑line Composer approaches composition by identifying possible break points, evaluating them, and assigning a weighted penalty based on the following principles:

  • For left-, right-, or center-aligned text, lines that fall closer to the right side are favored and have a lower penalty.

  • For justified text, the highest importance is given to evenness of letter and word spacing.

  • Hyphenation is avoided when possible.

Single-line Composer

The Single-line composer offers a traditional approach to composing type one line at a time. This option is useful if you want manual control over how lines break. The Single‑line Composer uses the following principles when considering a breakpoint:

  • Longer lines are favored over shorter lines.

  • In justified text, compressed or expanded word spacing is preferable to hyphenation.

  • In nonjustified text, hyphenation is preferable to compressed or expanded letterspacing.

  • If spacing must be adjusted, compression is better than expansion.

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