Text positioning

This group places text at exact positions on a PDF page — instead of flowing it into paragraphs. It can stamp text at a chosen point, stamp it rotated at an angle, and measure how wide a piece of text would be. Use it for overlays, labels, watermark-style stamps, diagram captions, or to compute a text width for lining up other content.

Prerequisite: Draw Text At Position and Draw Rotated Text need the workflow to already have a PDF created (with Create PDF). Measure Text Width only calculates a size and does not need any document.

These concepts recur across the instructions in this group; they are explained here once.

• Document: indicates which document in the workflow the instruction applies to. If left empty, the current document is used. If the document doesn’t exist (or is not a PDF), the instruction simply does nothing. (Measure Text Width has no Document field — it just computes a width.)

• The two “Draw” instructions take effect when the PDF is saved. They are recorded now and painted when the PDF is saved (when it is rendered to the final file). The text appears in the finished .pdf, drawn on top of whatever is already on the page. Measure Text Width runs right away and only saves a number.

• Positions are in centimeters, measured from the top-left corner of the page. A point like 2, 2 is 2 cm in from the left and 2 cm down from the top.

• Page numbers start at 1. The text is stamped on a single page. If the page number is out of range it is adjusted to the nearest valid page.

• Font size is in points, and is always at least 1.

• Color (hex): the text color is given as a hex code such as FF0000 (red), with or without a leading #. The default 000000 is black. Because these instructions draw new text, leaving the color empty (or typing an invalid code) simply draws the text in black — the text is still drawn.

• Dynamic values (@name): in a text field (Text, Font name, Color (hex)) you can type @ followed by the name of a value saved earlier in the workflow, and it will be replaced by that value.

• Saving a result: Measure Text Width saves the calculated width into a named value (its Save width field). If you leave that field empty, nothing is saved. You can reuse the saved value later in the workflow (including in an @name or “from variable” field).

• “From variable” fields: the @name trick only works in text fields. The numeric fields — Page number, the X / Y positions, the Angle, and Font size — each have a companion “from variable” field:

  • If you leave it empty, the value typed in the normal field is used.
  • If you fill it in with the name of a saved value, the engine ignores the normal field and reads the value from that variable.

  This is mainly for chaining instructions (for example feeding a width from Measure Text Width into a later position). If you only work with fixed values, you can ignore these fields. (The yes/no fields Bold and Italic have no “from variable” companion.)

• Draw Rotated Text .pdf
• Draw Text At Position .pdf
• Measure Text Width .pdf

Draw Rotated Text .pdf

Stamps a piece of text at an exact position on a page, rotated by a given angle.

When to use it: for slanted labels, diagonal stamps, sideways captions, or a simple angled watermark on a page.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Page number	Page to draw on (starts at 1)	1	No
Text	The text to stamp. Supports @name	Rotated text	No
X position (cm)	Anchor point, from the left of the page	5	No
Y position (cm)	Anchor point, from the top of the page	10	No
Angle (degrees)	How many degrees the text is rotated around its anchor point	45	No
Font name	Font of the text; empty = Arial. Supports @name	Arial	No
Font size	Size of the text in points	12	No
Bold	Yes = make the text bold	No	No
Italic	Yes = make the text italic	No	No
Color (hex)	Text color as a hex code, e.g. FF0000. Empty = black. Supports @name	000000 (black)	No
Page number (from variable)	Reads the page number from a saved value	(empty)	No
X position (from variable)	Reads the value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Y position (from variable)	Reads the value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Angle (from variable)	Reads the angle from a saved value	(empty)	No
Font size (from variable)	Reads the font size from a saved value	(empty)	No
Bold (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Italic (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: the text is drawn when the PDF is saved. It is rotated by the given angle around its anchor point. An empty font name falls back to Arial; the font size is at least 1; an empty or invalid color code draws the text in black; and the page number is adjusted to a valid page if it is out of range.

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Draw Text At Position .pdf

Stamps a piece of text at an exact position on a chosen page (horizontal, not rotated).

When to use it: to place a label, stamp, or note at a precise spot on the page — independent of the document’s paragraphs.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Page number	Page to draw on (starts at 1)	1	No
Text	The text to stamp. Supports @name	Hello, World!	No
X position (cm)	Anchor point, from the left of the page	2	No
Y position (cm)	Anchor point, from the top of the page	2	No
Font name	Font of the text; empty = Arial. Supports @name	Arial	No
Font size	Size of the text in points	12	No
Bold	Yes = make the text bold	No	No
Italic	Yes = make the text italic	No	No
Color (hex)	Text color as a hex code, e.g. FF0000. Empty = black. Supports @name	000000 (black)	No
Page number (from variable)	Reads the page number from a saved value	(empty)	No
X position (from variable)	Reads the value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Y position (from variable)	Reads the value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Font size (from variable)	Reads the font size from a saved value	(empty)	No
Bold (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Italic (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: the text is drawn when the PDF is saved. An empty font name falls back to Arial; the font size is at least 1; an empty or invalid color code draws the text in black; and the page number is adjusted to a valid page if it is out of range.

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Measure Text Width .pdf

Calculates how wide a piece of text would be (in points) with a given font, size, and style, and saves that width for later use. It does not draw anything.

When to use it: to line up other content against a piece of text — for example to compute where to place a box, a line, or a second piece of text so it sits right after a label of unknown length.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Text	The text to measure. Supports @name	Sample text	No
Font name	Font used for the measurement; empty = Arial. Supports @name	Arial	No
Font size	Size of the text in points	12	No
Bold	Yes = measure as bold text	No	No
Italic	Yes = measure as italic text	No	No
Font size (from variable)	Reads the font size from a saved value	(empty)	No
Bold (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Italic (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Save width	Name under which the measured width (in points) is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: this instruction does not need an open document and draws nothing — it only computes a width and, if Save width is not empty, saves it. An empty font name falls back to Arial, and the font size is at least 1. The saved width is in points (1 point = 1/72 inch).

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