How to Make a Font Narrow

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Some fonts come as a package—in this case there is commonly a normal, bold and narrow variety for you to choose from (for instance, Arial, Arial Bold and Arial Narrow). But in other cases, you only have the normal variety with which to work. There is a simple way to make your font appear more narrow in your document using the various character options in your word processing like Microsoft Word or a graphic design program like Adobe Photoshop.

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Microsoft Word

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Step 1

Type in the words that you want to appear in your document. Select all of the text that you want to appear more narrow with your mouse.

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Step 2

Click the arrow next to "Font" on the "Home" toolbar or "File" menu (varies by version of Word). This will bring up a dialog box. Select the "Character" tab.

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Step 3

Select any percentage under 100 percent from the "Scale" box. This will squeeze the font in so that it appears more narrow. Look at the preview area at the bottom of the dialog box to see how your text will look, then hit "OK."

Adobe Photoshop

Step 1

Use the "Horizontal Type Tool" and click inside your document to add text.

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Step 2

Right-click the text layer that you just created on your "Layers" toolbar and select "Rasterize Layer." This will turn the image into a picture that cannot be edited.

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Step 3

Select "Edit," then "Transform" and "Scale" on the Photoshop main menu. Grab the selection box and pull it upward to make it look more narrow.

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Step 4

Reduce the overall size of the font if you want (it will look bigger when you change the scale to make it more narrow this way). Hold down "Ctrl + Alt + Shift" on your keyboard, then click the corner of the selection while the "Scale" tool is still active. Drag the box inward to make the text smaller.

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