Kerning in Photoshop is the space between two specific characters, and you set it in the Character panel (Window > Character) with Metrics, Optical or a value of your own. Click between two letters with the Type tool and you're kerning. Select a word and you're tracking. Most kerning trouble in Photoshop comes down to that one difference.
If you want the general definition first, start with what kerning is and where it breaks.
Kerning or tracking? Your cursor decides
Photoshop has no separate kerning mode. It reads what you did with the Type tool. Put an insertion point between the W and the a in "Wave" and the Character panel shows the kerning value for that pair. Drag across the whole word and the panel shows the tracking value instead, since tracking is spacing across a range and kerning only exists between two characters.
With a range selected, you can't enter a manual kerning value at all. Adobe's instruction is to use tracking for the range. The two settings stack: manual kerning and tracking are cumulative, so you can fix individual pairs first and then tighten the whole line without undoing that work. For the same distinction outside Photoshop, see kerning vs. letter spacing.
Both values are measured in thousandths of an em, and an em equals the type size. A kerning value of -20 on 12pt text pulls the pair 0.24pt closer. The same -20 on a 120pt headline pulls it 2.4pt. A value that looks right on a caption won't look right on the headline.
Metrics, Optical, 0 and manual values
| Setting | What it does | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Metrics | Applies the kern pairs built into the font, such as To, Ty, Wa and Yo. It's Photoshop's default. | The font is well made and set in one typeface at one size. |
| Optical | Sets the spacing between characters from their shapes. | The font has little or no built-in kerning, or two typefaces or sizes meet on one line. |
| 0 | Turns kerning off for the selected characters. | You want to see the font's spacing with no kern pairs applied. |
| Manual value | Adds or removes space between one pair. Negative values tighten it, positive values loosen it. | A pair still looks wrong after Metrics or Optical. |
Metrics and Optical are where you start, not where you finish. Take a headline that drops from 72pt to 36pt mid-phrase: Adobe points to Optical for exactly that join, where two sizes sit side by side. Then look at each pair anyway. An automatic setting gets the line close, and the pairs that still gape get a manual value.
How to kern a pair in Photoshop
- Select the Type tool and click into the text layer.
- Click between the two letters you want to adjust, so the cursor sits between them with nothing selected.
- Open the Character panel with Window > Character if it isn't showing.
- Type a value in the kerning field, or press Alt + Left/Right Arrow (Windows) or Option + Left/Right Arrow (Mac) to tighten or loosen the pair.
- View the text at the size it'll appear and judge the pair against the letters around it, not on its own.
When kerning won't work
The kerning field won't take a number
You have a range selected. Photoshop doesn't allow manual kerning on a selection, and the panel is showing you tracking. Click once between the two letters so there's an insertion point and no highlight, then enter the value.
Gaps appeared, or you want to start over
Check the kerning field for 0. Zero switches off the font's built-in pairs, so a To or a Wa opens into a gap the font was designed to close. To bring the pairs back, select the text and choose Metrics, which applies the font's own kerning to the selection. Setting 0 doesn't reset anything. It removes kerning, the font's included.
Small text looks uneven on screen
Photoshop uses fractional character widths by default, so spacing can land on fractions of a pixel. Adobe notes that for type under 20 points shown on screen, this can make letters run together or spread apart. Choose System Layout from the Character panel menu to set spacing in whole pixels, and Fractional Widths to switch back. It applies to the whole type layer, not to single characters.
The font is the problem
Some fonts ship with thin kerning data or none, and Metrics can only apply the pairs that exist. Switch the text to Optical, then fix what's left by hand.
When it matters and when it doesn't
Kerning matters where letters are big enough for the gaps to show: headlines, logotypes, a poster title, the one line of copy on a social graphic. At 120pt, a loose "To" is the first thing people see. At caption size the same gap shrinks to a fraction of a point, and Metrics carries body copy without help.
Adobe's own advice is to use Photoshop for quick spacing fixes on titles and social posts, and to keep complex typography that needs vector fidelity out of it. Kerning in Illustrator and kerning in InDesign cover the same job in those tools. To train your eye on what to fix, see good kerning vs. bad kerning.
When the text isn't type
The Character panel only works on type layers. Text that's part of an image is pixels, whether it came from a flattened file, a screenshot or an image generator that rendered the headline into the picture. No Metrics, Optical or manual value reaches it. A loose "Wa" baked into a generated ad mockup stays loose until someone retypes the line as live type and kerns it.
That makes it a review problem, not a settings problem. Superside's published process runs "brand and spec QA checks before a human reviews" (how Superside works with AI), and baked-in type is a case for that order: no setting can fix it, so a person has to see it.