Repel text under not working

[Grenou]

Repel text under is not working for me.

Either I am having a severe senior moment or I have the wrong end of the stick.
Try as I might, following the Help instructions, I can't get text to flow around an object.

Here is what I do in Designer 6:
I write the text, then add a bitmap ('the object'), then right-click on the bitmap and tick Repel text under>Repel.
Nothing happens.

What should I be doing that I am not?

Thanks for any assistance.

Grenou

[zaphodeist]

The text and the bitmap must be on the same layer (MouseOff) with the bitmap to the front of the text.

[gwpriester]

The clue is Repel Text UNDER.

[Grenou]

The text and the bitmap must be on the same layer (MouseOff) with the bitmap to the front of the text.

Oh dear, what's MouseOff? Not heard of that one before :-)

I did, about a year ago, manage to get this to work, but can't for the life of me remember what I did...

I am old (-ish), please be patient :-)

Grenou

[Soquili]

Hi Grenou,

It seems John and Gary have been spending too much time in web designing where the MouseOff layer is the base (primary) layer for making a web page.

In Photo & Graphic Designer 6 the primary layer is named Layer 1 by default. Your text must be in a text area (created by clicking with the Text tool and dragging diagonally) and the graphic to repel the text must be above the text.

[Grenou]

Bingo, I did something right, it worked.

Thanks for your patience, gentlemen!

Grenou

[Soquili]

We are always glad when we can help a another member.

[Grenou]

I have done some more thinking about why I couldn't make it work:
My observations re Repel text under:
Having now 'mastered' this, I had another look in the Help files, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything.
Under Repel text under the user is referred to Repelling text objects>quote:
"
Making an object repel
To make an object repel text, select the "Repel text under..." option in the Arrange menu to bring up the repelling properties dialog. Or right click on the object and select the same option in the right-click menu.
If desired, set a repel margin for the object. This determines the size of the margin between the edges of the object and the text that it repels. To close the dialog and turn on the repel text option click on "Repel".

To turn off repelling simply bring up the repelling properties dialog for the object and click on "Don't repel". Note that repelling text objects only repel text that is underneath the objects, not any text that is on top.

Note that single lines of text do not respond to repelling objects, only text areas and text columns do.

Note that you cannot make an object both repelling and anchored. If you apply both to an object, anchoring takes priority and the repelling attribute of the object is ignored (it will not repel)."

It doesn't mention that Repel doesn't work unless the text is inside a text box.
No wonder I did a lot of head scratching. How is one to know if it isn't mentioned anywhere (if it is I haven't seen it)
The Xara Xtreme book doesn't explain this bit about the text inside the box either.

Maybe, if anyone from Xara reads this, they might re-word the Help file :-)

Grenou

[zaphodeist]

"Note that single lines of text do not respond to repelling objects, only text areas and text columns do."

[Grenou]

Hehe, that entry was as clear as mud and only recognised by people who know what a text area IS :-)

But, of course you are quite correct, it is mentioned :-)

Grenou