You can specify how words and lines break by adjusting hyphenation settings automatically, or by using the hyphenation dictionary.
Illustrator uses the same composition methods for line and word breaks that is used in Adobe InDesign. For more information on using these features, see web Help.
The settings you choose for hyphenation affect the horizontal spacing of lines and the aesthetic appeal of type on a page. Hyphenation options determine whether words can be hyphenated and, if so, what breaks are allowable.
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To turn automatic hyphenation on or off, select or deselect the Hyphenate option in the Paragraph panel.
To apply hyphenation to specific paragraphs, first select only the paragraphs that you want to affect.
To choose a hyphenation dictionary, choose a language from the Language menu at the bottom of the Character panel.
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To specify options, choose Hyphenation from the Paragraph panel menu, and specify the following options:
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, aromatic would 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 unlimited consecutive hyphens are allowed at ends of lines.
Note:
Hyphenation settings apply only to Roman characters; double‑byte characters available in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts are not affected by these settings.
Illustrator uses Proximity language dictionaries to determine when to hyphenate words. These dictionaries let you specify a different language for as little as a single character of text. You can select a default dictionary and customize the dictionary in the Preferences dialog box.
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.
The appearance of type on the page depends on a complex interaction of processes called composition. Using the word spacing, letterspacing, glyph spacing, and hyphenation options you’ve selected, Adobe applications evaluate possible line breaks and choose 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 paragraph or paragraphs, so you can easily set different composition methods for different paragraphs.
The Every‑line Composer considers a network of break points for a range of lines and thus can optimize earlier lines in the paragraph in order 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.
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.
To choose one of these methods, select it from the Paragraph panel menu. To apply the method to all paragraphs, first select the type object; to apply the method to the current paragraph only, first insert the cursor in that paragraph.
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