: Illustrator: Auto-sized Text box with shaded background? I frequently create labels that follow the same format: white text on a 75% opaque black background, with 10px of margin around the text.

@Turnbaugh909

You really don't need any scripting for this.


Select text object with Selection Tool
Add new fill via Appearance Panel
Move new fill below characters
Highlight new fill and choose Effect > Convert to Shape > Rectangle
Enter relative amount of points/pixels/inches etc. you want the rectangle to be offset from the text
click OK
drag the text object to Graphic Styles Panel




When you need to reapply the appearance, select the text object and click the Graphic Style.

The background rectangle is relative to the size of the text object. Should the text object change in size the rectangle adjusts to match.

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@Rambettina927

I feel like I have to say this a lot with Adobe products but ...

The most efficient answer is scripting.

You need to get the bounds of the text, draw a box based on those numbers, and position it behind the text. With some basic math and an understanding of how to get to Illustrator's various scripting objects, it's not that tough.

For starters, you need to get the points defining the object's location:

activeDocument.selection[0].geometricBounds


That will return the array [x1, y1, x2, y2]. From there you can start building and styling your box and move it behind the text object.

You could start with the script that you linked as a reference of how it's done. If you don't know javascript and Illy's scripting interface it will take some time. The upside is that the operation will take seconds each subsequent time and you'll have a whole new world of efficiency opened up to you.

The reason that script didn't do what you wanted is that you can't apply a background color to area text. It converts it to area text to do the centering, leaving you without your box styles.

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