Wrapping Text Around a Text Box or Frame

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 4, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

After you have inserted a text box or a frame in your document, you can control how surrounding text flows around it. You can either turn wrapping off, or you can cause Word to flow text around the frame or text box. If you are using text boxes, you have even more wrapping options. To control text wrapping for a text box, follow these steps:

Right-click on the text box. Word displays a Context menu.
Choose Format Text Box from the Context menu. Word displays the Format Text Box dialog box.
Click on the Layout tab (in Word 97 click on the Wrapping tab). (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Layout tab of the Format Text Box dialog box.

Select a method of text wrapping in the Wrapping Style area of the dialog box.
Click on OK.

If you are wrapping text around a frame, the process is slightly different:

Right-click on the frame. Word displays a Context menu.
Choose Format Frame from the Context menu. Word displays the Frame dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Frame dialog box.

Select a method of text wrapping in the Text Wrapping area of the dialog box.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3499) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Making Live URLs Into Normal Text

Convert those URLs into regular text! It's easy to do when you follow the steps in this tip.

Discover More

Working in Feet and Inches

Your chosen occupation may require that you work with linear distances in feet and inches. Excel can do this, to a ...

Discover More

Useable Printed Pages with Markup

When you create documents that rely on markup (tracked changes and comments), getting usable printed output that includes ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

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.

Discover More

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 ...

Discover More

Understanding Frames and Text Boxes

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

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is six more than 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.