adobe illustrator cc 2014.1 known labeling issue and workaround

Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1 Known Labeling Issue and Workaround

Compatibility issue with Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1

On October 6, 2014, Adobe released Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1, a point release with some new features and updates. It was confirmed that as a result of this update, an issue with Actions was introduced by Adobe. This issue affects all Actions relating to text on a path, not just those within MAPublisher. When applying a recorded action to text on a path, the result is incorrect. Several MAPublisher labeling tools rely on Actions and that is the reason some users are experiencing this labeling issue.

After reviewing the issue, a message was sent to Adobe and they are currently working on fixing it. While Adobe has acknowledged the issue and has indicated that a fix is coming, it is not expected to become public until the next major release of Adobe Illustrator.

We have developed the following explanation and workaround to help you.

Symptom of the issue with Adobe Illustrator without MAPublisher

Below is a quick example using Adobe Illustrator’s Actions tool.

Create one smooth line with type on a path “This is a test on a smooth line.” Next, record an action that adjusts the type on a path to be aligned at the vertical center of the type.

Go to the Type menu > Type on a Path > Type on a Path Options. In the Align to Path drop-down, choose “Center”. Click OK to apply this.

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The result shows that the text alignment is adjusted as specified correctly. Stop recording. A recorded action is saved in the Actions panel.

What happens when the action is applied to the same text? The text is placed in a stair step alignment and is completely different compared to the example above. This illustrates that the action was not recorded correctly by Adobe Illustrator.

Symptoms observed with MAPublisher on CC 2014.1

MAPublisher is an Adobe Illustrator plug-in and many MAPublisher features are created to automate Adobe Illustrator’s tasks and steps. For example, Feature Label uses Actions to apply the settings shown in the Feature Label dialog box. As a result of the issue caused by Adobe Illustrator, MAPublisher Feature Label is affected and places and aligns text incorrectly.


To further examine the symptoms, let’s see what happens with MAPublisher when applying Feature Label to the same line object used in the example above. This time an attribute with Text data type will be created for it with a value of “This is a test on a smooth line.”

Select the line object and open the Feature Label dialog box. Choose “Follow line, create text on a path” from the Label Type drop-down and, more importantly, choose the “Center” label position option so that the created text (type on a path) will be similar to the one manually created in the previous example.

The result is as expected. The text (Type on a path) was appropriately aligned at the vertical center of the text.

However, with CC 2014.1, due to the problem with the functionality of the Actions tool. This incorrect result is similar to the one when the recorded action was run to a type on a path was performed in the earlier example. This is just one example of the symptoms.

We found that the same example on a different computer produced the result shown below. All the text values are placed overlapping in the same position. It seems that incorrect settings are applied for the spacing when the action is applied by MAPublisher.


In addition to the incorrect alignment and placement of text objects, it seems that text is being recognized as legacy objects (meaning that text objects look like they were created with an earlier version of Adobe Illustrator). As a result, the symptom of this issue is to display a warning message whenever text objects are selected. This is incorrect behavior as CC 2014.1 is the most recent version of Adobe Illustrator.

How to check Adobe Illustrator version details To check the details about your version of Adobe Illustrator, go to Help > Adobe Illustrator.


A window with information about Adobe Illustrator will open.

This first example shows the Adobe Illustrator version as CC 2014.1.1 Release (18.1.1). Adobe Illustrator on this computer received another minor update after CC 2014.1 release, it shows the extra digit with .1 (CC 2014.1.1). Both versions of Adobe Illustrator (both CC 2014.1 and CC 2014.1.1) are confirmed to cause the Actions issue.

The second example below shows the Adobe Illustrator version as CC 2014.0.0 Release (18.0.0). This version of Adobe Illustrator is not affected since it doesn’t have the 2014.1 update.

Affected platforms • All Windows (64 bit) supported by Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1 • All Windows(32 bit) supported by Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1 • All Mac OS X supported by Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1

Note: This issue does not affect any of the earlier versions of Adobe Illustrator: CC 2014 (no update installed), CC, CS6 are all compatible with MAPublisher.

Affected MAPublisher features • Label Features • MAP Tagger Tool • MAP Contour Tagger Tool

Note: MAPublisher LabelPro is not affected as it uses different algorithm and engine for labeling.


Possible workaround example If you have Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.1, below is a possible workaround which may be of help.

First, with MAPublisher 9.5.4, an issue with Feature Labels was fixed when only “Baseline” is selected for the Label position option. Due to the limited information we have to develop this tool, when the “Descender” or “Center” option is selected, the same issue as described above will occur. In addition, the issue where output text is recognized as “Legacy text” was fixed.

The workaround is simple to explain. We will manually have to go through the automated steps illustrated above.

Step 1 Place the text with the “Baseline” label position.

Step 2 Select the text and go to Type > Type on a Path > Type on a Path Options.

Step 3 Choose an Align to Path setting. With this example, “Center” is chosen. Click OK to apply it.


The text (type on a path) is placed appropriately as specified.

However, depending on how text on a path is placed and on your dataset, some of the text on a path might show a red plus symbol [+] after applying the text alignment settings in the Type on a Path dialog box. This happens when the text length is longer than the length of the path used for “type on a path”. There is a solution for this.

Step 4 From MAPublisher Tool bar, click Text Utilities or go to the Object menu > MAPublisher > Text Utilities.

Step 5 In the Action drop-down, choose “Extend overflowing text”. Click OK.

Now the full value of the attribute on a path is shown correctly.

Once again, Adobe was contacted and they are currently working on fixing this issue. If you have any question related to this issue or MAPublisher, contact us at [email protected].


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adobe illustrator cc 2014.1 known labeling issue and workaround

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