After a little experimenting, I have found a way to get this right. It's a bit of a faff, but it works.

1. Draw a circle the size of the path you want the text to follow. Centre it on your document. You'll have to rasterize it, then use CTRL+C CTRL+V to paste it, which will drop it dead centre.

2. Make a cross, using the line tool. Select a small line weight, such as 3, then draw a line any length you like. Centre it, using the same method as for the circle. Duplicate the line, rotate 90 degrees. Merge it down to the first line. This will provide a reference for the centre of rotation.

3. Type each letter on individual layers, centre each one using the same method as above. Link all layers, then move to the top centre of your circle. Unlink them.

4. select your first letter, then select "Rotate" from the Edit menu. At the top of the screen, you'll see x and y coordinates for the centre of rotation, and a small shape in the middle of the selected letter. This is the centre of rotation. Either drag the centre of rotation to the centre of the cross, or use the x and y boxes to type in an appropriate value until the rotation centre is aligned.

5. When you move the letter, provided you did everything right, it should follow the edge of your circle. When it's in position, hit Return.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for all letters.

Yep, it's long winded and fiddly but it works. The downsides are, you have to have a pretty good idea of your text size to circle ratio before you start, because - having rasterized each letter beforehand - you can't change 'em after. Unfortunately, I don't know of any other way to ensure each letter is aligned correctly without rasterizing.

Centring the letters on the document, then aligning to the edge of the circle before you position them is key to ensuring they all rotate correctly.

Coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum.

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