How to align a single letter within a text object to the edge of the bounding box in Adobe Illustrator?

Question

I want to align a textfield to the top left of a box, as per how the Grid Systems cover looks:

The round letters in the headlines should overhang slightly. I am able to get quite close by using:

Preferences > General > Use Preview Bounds

and:

Effect > [Illustrator Effects] Path > Outline Object

The results of this are:

However, it's not where I want it, I want to align the top-left anchor of the "I" to the red box, rather than the bounding box of all the characters (due to the round letters).

How do I align a single letter within a live text path / object, so that the top left of the letter is anchored to the top left of the bounding box?

Answer 1

This happens because some characters like 'S' and 'O' slightly higher than 'I'.

You could convert the text into outline Type > Create Outline and place it to the top left corner.

By enabling Smart Guides (CTRL + U) you could easily position the text.

Answer 2

A workaround is to copy the text, create outlines on the copy, position the copy via anchor, align the textfield to the copy, and then delete the copy.

But hopefully there is a better answer.