Creating Text Boxes

Creating text boxes is a two-step process. First, you draw the box that will contain your text. Then you enter the text.

Activating text boxes

To create text boxes on your form, text objects must be activated. If they are not, the text tools will be grayed out. When text objects are activated, the on the Activate tool bar looks like it is pushed in:

Tool bar with active text button

Tool bar with inactive text button

If your button is not pushed in, you will need to activate text objects before you can draw text boxes.

To activate text objects

Click on the on the Activate tool bar. The button will remain pushed in and your text tool will be activated.

or

1. Open the View menu and select Activate.

2. Select Text from the Activate menu.

Creating the text box

Text boxes define the area where a block of text will appear on your form. Within that block you can create, edit, and format the text as if you were creating a document in a word processor. Text blocks can be single labels for a data field, a page of legal “fine print,” or anything in between. By default, text boxes operate in insert mode. You can switch to overtype mode when the need arises.

To draw a text box

1. Click on the button on the tool bar or press + on the keyboard. The mouse pointer will change to .

2. Place the + of the mouse pointer at the place where you want to begin draw­ing your text box.

3. Hold the left mouse button down and drag the mouse to create the text box:

To draw a square text box, press while you draw the text box.

4. When the text box is the size you want, release the mouse button. Your insertion point will be placed in the top left corner of the text box.

5. Type your text at the insertion point, just as you would in a word-processing program. The height of your text box will expand if necessary to accommo­date your text.

6. When you finish, press or click outside the box.

To add or edit text in a text box

1. Click the button on the tool bar or press + . The pointer will change to.

2. Move the pointer to the place where you want to insert or add text.

3. Click your mouse to insert the insertion point. This will activate the text box and place it in edit mode.
Note: In order to allow for easier identification of the editing cursor, it is formatted red with a width of two pixels.

4. Enter or edit your text.

5. When you finish, press or click outside the box.

Note:
  • Unlike other drawing tools, the text editing tool stays selected until you select another tool, regardless of how you have the Keep Tool option set. This allows you to make additional text edits without reselecting the tool.
  • Undo and Redo also work when you enter and edit text. When you are typing text, I-32 Forms Design 6 considers each word to be one action.
Tip:
  • You can also enter edit mode by simply double-clicking on the text box you want to edit. This lets you edit the text box but does not select the text editing tool. When you click outside the text box, you will be returned to the selection tool.
  • When in edit mode, a text box is displayed with a red solid border indicating you can modify the contents.

To enter multi-paragraph text

1. Type your first paragraph into the text box.

2. When you reach the end of your first paragraph, press + to start a new line.

3. If you want a blank line between your paragraphs, press + again.

4. Start typing your next paragraph.

5. You can enter as many paragraphs as you like. Press + before each one.

6. When you finish, press or click outside the text box.

Note:

without will exit editing mode and reselect the text box. To re­enter editing mode, press the space bar.

To switch to overtype mode

1. Place the insertion point at the place where you want to type over your text.

2. Press the key and type your text. To switch back to insert mode, press again.

Changing the text case

You can change the case of existing text in text boxes from upper case to lower case or vice versa. You can apply the change to the entire text box or to selected text.

Note:

This command only changes existing text. It does not affect text entry. If you want to enter new text in upper case, use the caps lock on the keyboard.

To change all text in the text box

1. Click on the tool bar or press + . Your mouse pointer will change to an inser­tion point.

2. Click the pointer in the text box that you want to change. Do not select any text.

3. Right-click on the text box to display the context menu.

4. Select Uppercase or Lowercase from the context menu. All the text in the text box will change to the case you selected.

To change selected text

1. Click on the tool bar or press + . Your mouse pointer will change to an in­sertion point.

2. Select the text that you want to change with your mouse.

3. Right-click anywhere in the text box to display the context menu.

4. Select Uppercase or Lowercase from the context menu.

Rotating text boxes

Text boxes can be rotated to predefined settings of 45, 90, 180, or 270 degrees. You can also assign a custom rotation value. Rotated text can be edited and its properties can be changed just like any other text box. Rotation is not available in 5.1 compatibility mode.

Note:

Text boxes that contain inline data fields and text boxes that are indented or dedented cannot be rotated.

To apply a predefined rotation value

1. Select the text box that you want to rotate:

2. Click onthe Rotation value field on the Object property page. Then click to display the drop-down list:

3. Select the rotation you want from the list:

  • Select 45 to rotate the text box 45 degrees:

  • Select 90 to rotate the text box 90 degrees:

  • Select 180 to rotate the text box 180 degrees:

  • Select 270 to rotate the text box 270 degrees:

To apply a custom rotation value

1. Select the text box that you want to rotate.

2. Enter the degree of rotation you want in the Rotation value field:

For the above value, you would see the following:

To edit text in a rotated text box

1. Select the rotated text box that you want to edit.

2. Press the space bar. The text box will be displayed in its horizontal position:

3. Edit the text.

4. Press or click anywhere on the form. The text box will return to its rotated position with the edits incorporated.

To return the text box to normal

1. Select the text box.

2. Select none to return the text box to its non-rotated position.