Add text to a slide

You can add text to the following areas in a slide:

• Placeholder
• Shape
• Text box

Text in placeholders

Text box used as a caption

Text in an arrow shapeIn this article

Add body or title text in a placeholder

Add text to a shape

Add text to a text box

Add body or title text in a placeholder

Slide layouts contain text and object placeholders in a variety of combinations. You can type titles, subtitles, and body text into text and object placeholders.

The dotted border represents the placeholder that contains the title text for the slide.

To add body or title text in a placeholder on a slide, do the following:

• Click inside a text placeholder, and then type or paste the text.

  Note If your text exceeds the size of the placeholder, PowerPoint reduces the font size and line spacing incrementally as you type, to make the text fit.

Add text to a shape

Shapes such as squares, circles, callout balloons, and block arrows can contain text. When you type text into a shape, the text attaches to the shape and moves and rotates with it. You can also overlay text that is independent of the shape and does not move when you move the shape.

Add text that becomes part of a shape

• To add text that becomes part of a shape, select the shape, and then type or paste the text.

Add text that is independent of a shape

• To add text that moves independently of a shape, add a text box, and then type or paste the text.

  Add a text box

  1. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Text Box.

     Note If you are using an East Asian language, from the Text Box drop-down menu, click either Horizontal or Vertical alignment.

  2. Click the slide, and then drag the pointer to draw the text box.

Add text to a text box

Use text boxes to place text anywhere on a slide, such as outside a text placeholder. For example, you can add a caption to a picture by creating a text box and positioning it near the picture. Also, a text box is handy if you want to add text to a shape, but you don't want the text to attach to the shape. You can add a border, fill, shadow, or three-dimensional (3-D) effect to text in a text box.

• To add text to a text box, click inside the text box, and then type or paste the text.

See also:

• Change the fonts
• Create a hyperlink
• Turn AutoFit text on or off