In Word, text boxes can contain many different types of elements and are handy when you need to insert information in a specific place on the page. You can format text boxes in dozens of ways to make them appear just how you need. The following articles cover how to efficiently work with text boxes in Word.

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Text Boxes and Frames' topic. Click the article''s title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

   Adding a Drop Shadow to a Text Box
Drop shadows add a nice touch to text boxes, making it seem like they are hovering above the page. Here's the simple steps you need in order to add a drop shadow to your text boxes.

   Adding Endnotes in Text Boxes
Text boxes and endnotes are both great tools you can use within a document. Problem is, you cannot use them together—Word doesn't allow you to add endnotes within a text box. This tip looks at how you can get round this problem.

   Adding Sidebars
When designing your document, you may want to use sidebars like you see in magazines and some books. This tip explains the easiest way to create your own sidebars, using text boxes.

   Automatically Adjusting Height for Text Boxes
Text boxes are often used to enhance the layout of documents. You may want a text box that adjusts its height automatically based on the text it contains. Here's how to get just what you want.

   Boxes in Boxes
When you insert a text box within another text box, you may expect any text in the outer text box to wrap around the inner text box. Word doesn't work that way, however. Here's why, along with a couple of workarounds you can use.

   Changing Defaults for Text Boxes and Callouts
Do you find yourself frequently creating text boxes and callouts? This tip describes how to change the default settings and how you can easily create text boxes that exactly meet your common requirements.

   Changing Orientation of a Text Box
Want to change how a text box is oriented on the page? You can't do it, but you can adjust the dimensions of the box manually.

   Columns in a Text Box
Want to divide a text box into columns? Word doesn't allow you to do this, but there are ways to work around the limitation.

   Comments in Text Boxes
If you use text boxes in your documents, you may sometime want to place a comment in the text box, the same as you can do with text not in the text box. Word doesn't allow you to add comments to text boxes, but there are a couple of workarounds you can use to get the same result.

   Creating See-through Text Boxes
When laying out your document, you may want to use a text box that appears to be positioned over your text, but to be transparent so you can see what is behind the text box. Here's how to create just that type of element.

   Creating Sideheads
A sidehead can be used as a layout element for a document. You can create sideheads in a document by using text boxes, as described in this tip.

   Creating Usable Figure Captions
Many people add both images and figure captions within text boxes so they can be easily positioned within a document. Doing so, however, has drawbacks as the figure captions are not as easily accessible for cross referencing or for inclusion in a Table of Figures. This tip describes how you can rectify this situation so that the captions are again usable.

   Different Layout for a Portion of a Page
Got a document layout that requires a portion of the page to be in one layout and another portion to be in a different layout? While Word is better at word processing than at document design, there are some things you can do to get the layout to appear the way you want.

   Find and Replace in Text Boxes
Find and Replace can work great, but not necessarily for text within text boxes. This tip discusses all the ins and outs of working with text boxes when it comes to finding text within them.

   Finding an Invisible Text Box
Text boxes can be a great aid in designing the layout of your document. What do you do when you can't find a text box that you want to delete, however? Here are a variety of approaches you can use to finding that errant text box.

   Finding Text Boxes
Need to search for various text boxes in your document? It's easy to do with the handy macro provided in this tip.

   Hanging Indents in Wrapped Text
If you use hanging indents for some of your paragraphs, you may wonder why they don't look right when they wrap on the right side of a text box or graphic. Here's the reason and what you can do to correct the formatting.

   Including Text Box Text in Word Counts
If you use text boxes in the layout of your documents, you should know that any word counts you perform do not include any words in those text boxes. If you want to include those words in your counts, you need the information in this tip.

   Inserting a Text Box
Text boxes are a great way to implement non-standard ways of laying out your document. They allow you to put text at virtually any point on a page, and have it be treated as a graphic element. This tip explains the different ways you can add text boxes to your documents.

   No-border Text Boxes by Default
Text boxes can be a great design element when laying out your documents. If you want those text boxes to have no borders (or a different border than Word uses as a default), here's how to create your own default.

   Repeating the First Column of a Table
Need the first column of a table to be repeated on multiple pages? You can't do it automatically in Word, but you can use a workaround to get the desired result.

   Resizing a Text Box
Text boxes allow you to "segment" information in your document and lay it out differently. You can easily resize these boxes by following the simple instructions in this tip.

   Rotating Fractions in a Text Box
Rotating graphics in Word is not always straight-forward, but it can be done. The tools on the Drawing toolbar allow you to modify the graphics in your document to your needs.

   Selecting a Graphic Behind a Text Box
How to select a graphic that is obscured by a text box can be perplexing. Here's an overview of the different ways you can select just the graphic and nothing else.

   Selecting Text in Linked Text Boxes
Text boxes are often used as design elements in a document layout. If you have linked text boxes, you may have noticed that it isn't as easy to select text where the selection spans the text box boundaries. Here's how you can still make those selections.

   Spell Checking with Text Boxes
Text boxes are a common design element in a document. You may wonder if the text you place in a text box can be spell checked. The answer is definitely positive, as discussed in this tip.

   Understanding Frames and Text Boxes
What is the difference between frames and text boxes? Why use one over the other? Find out here.

   Wrapping Text around a Graphic in a Text Box
Word allows you to wrap text around a graphic or around a text box, but it won't allow you to wrap text in a text box around a graphic in a text box. This may seem confusing, but the explanation is quite simple, once you understand how Word deals with objects in a document.

   Wrapping Text Around a Text Box or Frame
Text boxes and frames can be used for all sorts of information and objects in a document. You can wrap text around the text box or frame, but the wrapping doesn't occur by default. Here's how to get just the wrap you want.