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.)
If you prefer, you can also convert the text box to a frame, since Word permits a frame to be formatted so the height is automatically adjusted. (How you convert text boxes to frames has been covered in other issues of WordTips.)
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, and 2016. 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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2021-03-29 13:40:05
Joey S
Seems to be called "Resize shape to fit text" in my version of Word (2021 Office 365).
2020-06-21 23:07:26
norman
Thanks again, this was a bit tricky but your instructions were clear
2018-03-02 13:13:16
Deborah Poulalion
You are my hero! This is exactly what I needed.
2016-10-04 09:29:16
Jay
In Word 2010 when I move the text box after I've selected the "Resize shape to fit text" box, Word clears the selection and the text box no longer resizes.
Any solution?
2016-03-21 17:17:15
LH
In "Automatically Adjusting Height for Text Boxes" you state:
"How you convert text boxes to frames has been covered in other issues of WordTips."
I have been unable to locate this Tip.
Apart from that, my problem is that I have created an expandable box, per your instruction, but I'm also creating a fill-in form, and when I put a Content Control Rich Text in this box, I can't enter text in it. I have triple checked all obvious settings for restricting text. I can enter text when I "preview" (i.e. de-select Design Mode), but when I "start enforcement", and test the form as a normal user, this field can't be edited.
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