How to Make Text Boxes & Arrows in Word

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Microsoft Word includes a variety of shapes and styles of text boxes you can insert into documents. When you type text into a Word document, it appears sequentially, but shapes and text boxes can be positioned anywhere on a page. You can move text boxes and arrows to where you want them to appear and use text-wrapping and layering options to change how they interact with the rest of the document.

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Text Boxes

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Step 1

Click the "Insert" tab on the Word menu.

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Step 2

Click the "Text Box" button and select a text box style.

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Step 3

Type your text into the text box.

Step 4

Drag the text box to the desired location within your Word document.

Step 5

Right-click on the text box, point to "Wrap Text" and select from the available options to change how body text wraps around your text box.

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Arrows

Step 1

Select the "Insert" tab of Word's menu.

Step 2

Click the "Shapes" button and select an arrow from the "Lines" section.

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Step 3

Use your mouse to draw an arrow. Click on the Word document where you want the arrow to start and hold down the left mouse button while dragging the mouse to where the arrow should end. Release the left mouse button.

Step 4

Click on the arrow and drag it to move it.

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Step 5

Right-click on the arrow and select from the "Bring to Front" or "Send to Back" options to change how the arrow is layered with other elements in your document. For example, choose "Send to Back" to have part of the arrow covered up by a text box that overlaps it.

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