Align text in exact center (vertically and horizontally) without creating outlines?

Question

In Illustrator, how do you align text in the exact center of a shape for example without creating outlines. If I go to center text using the align palette, Illustrator aligns the text to it's bounding box.I know you can create outlines, but I want the text to remain editable in case I need to make changes later.Any thoughts?

Answer 1

You are correct, the only way to align without the text bounding box is to create an outline.

What I usually do is make a copy of the text and then create the outline. That way I can do both: align exactly and still have the original font style etc.

Just move the original type outside of the canvas or make a new layer and put it there but not visible.