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...

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