The last item on our drawing toolbar is text boxes. Text boxes are simply a box that you can type text in. We’ve already used text boxes when we created captions for a picture.

 

To insert a text box, click the Text Box icon () on the drawing toolbar. (You can also click the Insert menu and click Text Box.) This is what you will see:

 

 

Text boxes are actually created within drawing canvases. So, click and drag within this canvas to create your text box.

 

 

Once you have drawn your text box, here’s what you will see:

 

 

The text box is the smaller box inside the drawing canvas. You can now type in this box just like you would in a normal document. The text can be formatted and edited, and you can even add elements like graphics, tables, and ClipArt into them. The advantage to text boxes is that you can move the box around and place it anywhere on the page without disturbing the layout of the text. Text boxes can also be resized, cut, copied and pasted like a drawing canvas or a shape.

 

Let’s look at the Text Box toolbar. This toolbar can only be opened by clicking on a text box. Here’s what it looks like: .

 

The first two buttons () allow you to link or unlink a text box. To link a text box, first select the primary text box. Then, click the Link button. Finally, click the text box you want to link to (it must be empty). Here’s how your text will work:

 

-          When you type in the first text box, any text that won’t fit overflows into the second text box.

-          If you copy either text box, the text in all linked boxes will be copied.

-          If you delete the text in the first box, the text from the second box will be moved up to the first.

 

If you want to unlink a text box, click the box and click the second button (). Now, the link is broken; text will not move to the previous linked box when this happens, however.

 

You can use graphic effects like fills, borders, 3-D effects, and shadows on text boxes as well.