Tip of the week # 607
1 June 2020


Quickly add additional text on a slide (Microsoft PowerPoint) *

PowerPoint has some nifty design features to bring your presentations to life. (SmartArt springs to mind.) But there might still be times that you need to use the good old Text Box to add text to shapes or objects on your slide.

There are two ways in which the Text Box button can be used. Most people I train draw a box (I guess, as the button implies) and then type inside that box. This is great if you roughly know the exact size and location, but do you know the second method, that I believe is slightly faster?

Here's how:

  1. Click on the Text Box button in the Text group on the Insert tab.
  2. Click anywhere on the slide and type the text. (Press ENTER to move to a new line.)
  3. If necessary, (with the box still selected) drag any of the sizing handles that surround the text box to resize it.
  4. If necessary, point to the border of the text box and drag it to a new position. Or simply press any of the ARROW keys to nudge it.

Related tips:

  1. Tweak your SmartArt graphics ( tip_355.php )
  2. Convert an existing bulleted list to a SmartArt graphic ( tip_268.php )
  3. Draw three concentric circles with text in each ( tip_230.php )
  4. Adjusting text within an AutoShape (tip_159.html )

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* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.