Okay, so you know you can do a lot with a path, including flowing text along the stroke. You may not know, however, that you can also fill a closed path with text. That means you can make shapes out of blocks of text, and it’s easier than you think. Select one of the shape tools (U), choose Path in the drop-down menu near the left of the Options Bar, and drag out your shape. Choose the Type tool (T) and move the cursor inside the shape until the square outline around the type cursor changes to a circle. Click inside the shape and paste or type your text until the shape is filled. Bonus Tip: Choose Type>Paste Lorem Ipsum to have Photo­shop generate some text for you.

This tip previously appeared in the Photoshop Tips column by Colin Smith, in the January, 2018 issue of Photoshop User magazine.