Text in a circle using Inkscape

A common question on the SCAL forum is “How do you make text in a circle?”.  Another question is how do you have both the top text and the bottom text read from left to right.  I prefer to do this directly in Inkscape.  Another way is to use a word processing program and create word art-this is especially good for text distorted into a shape.  See this post from CleverSomeday for more info on word art from MS Word.

Here is how you would use Inkscape to put words around a circle.

1. Open Inkscape and click on the Circle tool then make a circle by holding down the Control key then click and drag the cursor in the work area.
2. Click on the Text tool then click in the work area and type your text for the top of the circle.
3. If you want to change the font, with the text still selected, click on the Font tool and select the font you want to use, click “Apply”.  You can now close the “Text and Font” window.
4. Click on the “Select” tool and if the text needs to be resized,  hold the control key and click and drag one of the bounding box corner arrows until you like the size of the text.
5. Select both the text and the circle.
6. From the menu select Text/Put on Path.  The text will be put on the bottom of the circle.
   
7. Click off of the circle/text to de-select it, then click on just the circle twice to get the rotate/skew bounding arrows.
   
8. Click on one of the corner arrows and drag it to rotate the circle.  The text will follow the circle.  Rotate until you like the placement of the text.
9. Draw another circle larger than the first one.  Use the alignment tools to center the new circle over the first one.  In my example, I turned off the fill and set a stroke so that the original circle and the upper text is visible.
10. Type the text for the bottom of the circle.
11. Select the new text and the larger circle, then from the menu, Text/Put on path.  The new text will be at the bottom of the new circle.
    
12. Click off the circle/text, then click on the larger circle and click on the “Flip horizontally” button .  The text will move to the inside of the larger circle.
    
13. Click on the outer circle again to bring up the skew/rotate arrows and rotate the outer circle until you like the placement of the bottom text.
14. Click on the outer circle again to bring back the regular sizing arrows.  Hold the shift and control keys, then click and drag one of the arrows until the bottom text is positioned against the inner circle.  My example isn’t the best, since the numbers are smaller than the upper case letters.
    
15. If you want the text in a circle, go to step 17.  If you want an oval instead of a circle, select both of the circles (but not the text), hold the shift key, and click and drag one of the top or side arrows until you like the shape of the ovals.
    
16. The text may shift slightly and the kerning may need adjusting.  See these posts on Cutting Time for more on text kerning.
17. If you want center text, add that, then use either of the circles or ovals to align the text.
18. Select the text and from the menu, Path/Union.
19. Delete the circles unless you want to use them as part of your design.