Text Boxes: Learn It 1

  • Create and modify text boxes.

Text boxes are containers for text that can be customized and moved around. They are useful for emphasizing or decorating text.

There are three text boxes displayed each with different formatting. Each has a few sentences written.
Some examples of text boxes.

To add a textbox, go to Insert>Text>Text Box. There are a few pre-created Built-in options to choose from. Click one of the Built-ins to add it to the document. You can also draw your own by choosing Draw Text Box, then clicking and dragging where you want the text box to be.

A blank Microsoft Word document is open. The ribbon menu is under the Insert tab. A magenta box surrounds the "Text Box," which has opened up revealing a drop down menu that highlights the "Draw Text Box" option. The other option reads "Draw Vertical Text Box."
Text Box menu
A blank Microsoft Word document is open. In the middle of the document a medium size text box has been drawn.
Drawing a text box

Once created, you can type in the text box, change the size of the text box, move the text box around, and even rotate the text box.

A zoom in of a text box in Microsoft Word is shown. There are 4 green numbers representing four different things. 1.) Is on the left side of the text box and stands for anchor point. 2.) On the top of the text box in the middle representing the rotation control. 3.) On the upper right side of the text box and it stands for wrap point. 4.) Is found in the bottom right corner of the text box and it represents the resize points.

  1. Anchor point. The anchor is the point at which the text box intertwines with the rest of the document. Click the anchor icon to select the entire text box.
  2. Rotation control. Click the circular arrow and then drag to rotate the text box.
  3. Wrap text. This controls how content in the rest of the document interacts with the text box. Text can go around the text box, in front of the text box, or skip over the text box. Text wrap is covered in more detail in the Images section.
  4. Resize points. The white dots on the border of the text box control the width and height of the text box. Click and drag any of the white dots to move that side or corner.

To move the text box, hover your cursor near the edges of the box. When you see four arrows behind the cursor, you can click and drag the box wherever you want it.

Four arrows stretching different directions at ninety degrees and is connected at the center.