Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Automatically Adjusting Height for Text Boxes.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 9, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021
If you use text boxes as a design element in your documents, you may want a way to create a text box that is a particular width but has no set height. This would allow the height of the text box to expand, based on the amount of text you place in it, without adjusting the width and messing up your page layout.
There are a couple of things you can try. First, you should try formatting the text box so it can expand. Follow these general steps.
Figure 1. The Text Box options of the Format Shape pane.
When performing these steps, make sure you set the width of the text box (step 2) separate from specifying the "resize" setting (step 5). You'll note that the Size tab of the Format Text Box dialog box allows you to set the width of the text box. If you set the width and the check box at the same time, then some versions of Word take that as an indication that it is OK to resize the width of the text box as necessary. (Go figure—sounds goofy, but it seems to work.)
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12075) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Automatically Adjusting Height for Text Boxes.
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