In the Paragraph panel, select the menu icon and then East Asian Features.
Last updated on
Oct 4, 2026
Apply character-level formatting controls to adjust spacing, alignment, rotation, and OpenType features in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text.
Fine-tuning the appearance of individual characters improves readability and visual consistency in multilingual designs that use Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (CJK) typography.
East Asian typographic controls are available automatically in Photoshop 23.0 (October 2021) and later when you work with CJK text. Earlier versions require enabling East Asian text options in preferences. Refer to Asian text composition paragraph-level settings, such as mojikumi and kinsoku shori.
Before you begin, make sure that:
- Photoshop 23.0 or later is installed.
- CJK fonts are installed on your system.
- Your operating system supports the target language.
Access Asian type features
Open Window > Type Layer Properties to access grouped East Asian formatting controls.
In Photoshop versions earlier than 23.0, select Edit > Preferences > Type and then enable East Asian or Show Asian Text Options.
Asian type options in the Character and Paragraph panels
Adjust character spacing with tsume
Select the characters you want to adjust.
In the Character panel or Type Layer Properties panel, enter or select a percentage value for Tsume.
Use values between 0% (no compression) and 100% (maximum compression) to reduce spacing around the character.
Tip
Tsume compresses space equally on both sides of each character. At 100%, the character's bounding box aligns exactly with its em box edges.
Set the leading measurement mode
Select the paragraphs you want to adjust.
In the Paragraph panel menu, select Top-to-top Leading to measure line spacing from the top of one line to the top of the next line.
Alternatively, select Bottom-to-bottom Leading to measure spacing from baseline to baseline.
Rotate horizontal characters in vertical text with tate-chu-yoko
Select the half-width characters (numbers, dates, or short foreign words) you want to rotate.
In the Character panel menu, select Tate-Chu-Yoko, or select the tate-chu-yoko icon in the Type Layer Properties panel.
The selected characters remain editable after rotation.
Rotate: Tate-chu-yoko
You can edit and format tate-chu-yoko characters normally after rotation. A checkmark or highlighted icon indicates the feature is active.
Align mixed-size characters with mojisoroe
In the Character panel menu or Type Layer Properties panel, choose an option from the Character Alignment submenu.
Select Roman Baseline to align small characters to the baseline of larger characters.
Select Em box Top/Right, Em box Center, or Em box Bottom/Left to align small characters to the specified position of the large character's em box.
Select ICF Top/Right or ICF Bottom/Left to align small characters to the Ideographic Character Space reference frame.
Tip
For vertical text frames, Top/Right aligns to the right edge, and Bottom/Left aligns to the left edge of the reference box.
Apply underlining to vertical type
Select vertical type characters.
In the Character panel menu, select Underline Left or Underline Right to position the underline on the specified side of the vertical text column.
Set Asian OpenType font options
Select the Type tool and select characters on an existing type layer or click to create a new type layer.
In the Character panel, select an Asian OpenType Pro font. (Fonts like Kozuka Gothic Pr6N or Kozuka Mincho Pr6N offer the most complete glyph collections).
From the Character panel menu, choose OpenType and select the variant you need: Japanese 78 for jp78 glyphs, Japanese Expert for expert variants, Japanese Traditional for traditional forms, Proportional Metrics for proportional spacing, Kana for horizontally optimized kana, or Roman Italics for italic proportional glyphs.
To access additional glyph variations, open the Glyphs panel and browse the character alternatives supported by the active font.
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