How to Insert a Text Box in Excel: Step-by-Step (2024)

Text boxes in Excel are best when you want to add relevant information about certain data in your worksheet 😊

When you insert a text box, you don’t have to change the current format of the worksheet to insert the new data you want to add.

That’s because a text box 💬 isn’t anchored to a cell in a worksheet. So, you can move, resize, and place it anywhere in your file. Plus, you can customize it 🎨

Today, you’re in for a step-by-step tutorial on how to insert a text box in Excel and more.

Let’s go! 😀

Inserting a text box easily

Do you want to insert quotes or annotations into your worksheet? 💬

Then insert a text box for it. It’s super easy to insert a text box in Excel.

Here’s how 👇

1. Go to the Insert Tab.

2. Click the Text group.

3. From the drop-down, click Text Box.

4. In your Excel worksheet, click and drag to draw the text box in the size that you want.

5. To add text, click the cursor inside the text box and type or paste your text.

There you have it! 🙌

You can also move the text box anywhere you want in your Excel worksheet. It won’t affect your data or format since text boxes are not anchored to any cell in the worksheet 😉

PRO TIP:

There’s a keyboard shortcut that you can use to insert a text box in Excel ⚡

Press keys Alt + N + X one after another. Then drag your mouse to insert a text box in your Excel worksheet.

Or you can also do this next method.

Add textbox from a shape

Another way to add text boxes in Excel is to add them from Shapes.

1. Go to the Insert Tab.

2. Click Illustrations.
3. Select Shapes from the options.

4. Select Text Box from the list of shapes.

5. In your worksheet, click and drag your mouse to draw the text box in the size that you want.

6. To add text, click the mouse cursor inside the text box and type or paste your text.

And that’s how you can add text boxes in Excel from Shapes 😀

You can add multiple text boxes in your spreadsheet too. Just follow the instructions above to create more text boxes in Excel.

If you want to go deeper into creating buttons in Excel, check out this tutorial.

Text box formatting

After adding the text box, you can do a lot whole more to it 🤩

You can customize your text box to the way you want it. Your text boxes should be organized and visually appealing as they can provide more context or highlight important data in your worksheet.

One way to do that is to do basic formatting on the text inside your text box💬

When you highlight the text inside the text box, a little box appears.

This little box gives you access to change basic text formatting tools from the Home Tab.

You change the font style, font size, and color of the text. You can also change the text effects and alignment as you like 😀

But if you want to have more options to format your text boxes, Excel has got you!

When you select the text box, a new tab will appear on the Excel ribbon: the Shape Format tab.

In the Shape Format Tab, you can change the formatting of your text box in so many ways 🎨

There are also presets and themes you can apply to your text box with just a click.

Here, we’ll show you how you can customize your text box in Excel 👇

Insert or Edit Shapes

If you don’t like the default rectangular text box shape, you can change it easily.

Say, you want to change the rectangle-shaped text box to a trapezoid-shaped text box.

It’s super possible and easy too 👌

1. Select your text box.
2. In the Insert Shape group, click the Edit shape button and select Change Shape.

3. Select the new shape you want.

And there you have it! 👇

You can also edit the points of your text box shape.

Edit Points helps you convert the text box into free flow. You can give your text box a new look ✨ with Edit Points where you can extend the shape points in any direction.

To do that, select the text box and go to Edit shapes. Then select Edit Points.

When you click on this option, the points of the text box will be highlighted with small boxes.

You can then drag the points to form the shapes that you want for your text box.

Shape Styles

In the Format Shape Tab, you can also find the Shape Styles group.

Here, you can select what theme or style of your shapes, or in our example, your text boxes.

1. Select the text box.
2. Click the drop-down arrow to show Theme Styles.

3. Select a theme that you like.

You’ll automatically see that your text box style changed ✨

Or you can customize your text box your way by choosing your own:

• Shape Fill – fill the selected shape with a solid color, picture, gradient, or texture.
• Shape Outline – pick a color, width, and line style for the outline of your shape.
• Shape Effects – apply visual effects to your text box like shadow, reflection, glow, and more.

Format WordArt Styles

The WordArt Styles is for the text in your textbox.

Just as there are presets and themes for your text box, there are also preset styles for the text in your text box.

Let’s try 😊

1. Select the text box.
2. Click the downward arrow to show all styles.

3. Select your preferred text style.

Or you can customize your text box your way by choosing your own:

• Text Fill – fill the text with a solid color, picture, gradient, or texture
• Text Outline – customize the outline of your text by choosing the color, width, and line style
• Text Effects – add a visual effect such as shadow, glow, or reflection to your text.

Resize your Text box

To fit the text inside your text box or to make your text box look better, you can resize it.

There are two ways to resize your text boxes 😀

First, when you select the text box, you will see small circles around it.

You can adjust the height or width (or both) of the text box by extending the circles.

The second method to do this is by the Size group of the Shape Format Tab.

Rotate your text box

You can also rotate your text box in two ways 😊

You can manually rotate it by moving the rotation button at the top of the text box.

Or you can choose Rotation options on the Arrange group of the Shape Format tab.

Just click on the drop-down and you’ll see the sub-options of rotating the text box on the left and right by 90 degrees. Also, you can flip it horizontally or vertically.

That’s it – Now what?

Congratulations! You’ve learned how to insert text boxes in Excel and also learned many ways how to customize them as you like 👏

What’s next for you is to apply what you’ve learned and insert text boxes in your worksheets to help you and other users understand the context of certain data.

Did you know that you can make a linked text box to make it more dynamic? Yes, you can with Excel Visual Basic Analysis (VBA). With VBA, you can unlock the full potential of Microsoft Excel 🚀

Sign up for my free Excel training where you’ll learn macros and the basics of VBA.
This training is free, practical, and beginner friendly 😀

Other resources

What better way to insert quotes or annotations about your data in Excel than by using Excel Comments and Notes? 📝 Read more about them here.

There are still many things you can insert into your Excel worksheets 😀

Whether you want to insert pictures, insert special characters, or insert a new worksheet, we got you! Click on their links to learn how to insert them.

Frequently asked questions