Deleting All Text in Linked Text Boxes

Summary: Word allows you to place text in multiple text boxes and have that text flow from one text box to another. This tip explains how you can easily delete the text that flows among those text boxes. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

Normally, you cannot delete all the text within text boxes. If you select all the text boxes in a document and press the Del key, the text boxes themselves will be deleted, along with the text inside. If you press Ctrl+A (or choose Select All from the Edit menu) and press Del, everything in your document disappears.

If your text boxes are linked, however, you can delete all the text within all linked text boxes by following these steps:

Select any text box in your document. You can do this by pressing Alt+Up Arrow or Alt+Down Arrow.
Press Ctrl+A. Word selects all the text in all the linked text boxes. (If all the text in your document is selected, then you didn't have a text box selected in step 1.
Press the Del key. All the text is deleted.

If text boxes are not linked, you will need a macro to delete the text in each text box, one at a time.

Tip #1496 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Deleting All Text in Linked Text Boxes