Expert: Amy - 10/29/2005

Question
I change my preferences "Units & Measures" to inches.  Enter .5" for the font size (times) and type in a word.  I than convert text to curves and when I select the word the letters are now .37" high.  Illustrator CS on a PC & Mac

Answer
Ah, I see what the problem is.  I thought you meant the type was actually changing when you converted it to outlines.

Unfortunately, when you set your type for a specific inch size, like .5", Illustrator is allowing for both ascenders and descenders within that .5" so no character is going to measure .5"

You'll need to scale it manually, I guess. If you need every character to be exactly .5" tall, you'll have to size each letter independently. With almost any font, there are slight height variations between characters... even in all caps. For example, a cap C will usually be a teence taller than a cap T in a sans serif font. But if you just need the height of the type to approximate .5" use the Window > Transform (Shift + F8) palette to scale your type. Select all the letters of your word, enter .5" in the H (height) field in the Transform palette. Then hold Ctrl (or Cmd) and hit enter. The tallest character in your word will now measure .5" and the W (width) of the object will be increased proportionally.

Another way to size the type manually would be to draw a box that's .5" high (and however wide you need it) around your word.  Then grab and scale the type to meet the edges of the guide box you drew. Using bounding boxes is probably easiest (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + B).

I hope this method can get you the results you need!

Amy Pace