How to Insert a Text Box in Google Docs

The Limitation of Standard Text Formatting

Google Docs is an excellent tool for writing standard, linear documents like essays, reports, and letters. However, because it is designed primarily as a word processor rather than a page layout application (like Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Publisher), moving text around freely can be incredibly frustrating.

If you want to place a pull quote in the margins, create a sidebar for a newsletter, or overlay text on top of an image, standard paragraph formatting will not work. You cannot simply drag a paragraph of text to a random spot on the page.

To break free from the strict margins and linear flow of the document, you must use a Text Box. A Text Box acts as an independent, floating container. Once your words are inside it, you can drag that box absolutely anywhere on the page, resize it, give it a background colour, and force the regular document text to wrap neatly around it.

How to Insert a Text Box Using the Drawing Tool

Unlike Microsoft Word, which has a dedicated “Text Box” button right on the main ribbon, Google Docs hides this feature inside its built-in Drawing tool. Here is how to access and use it:

1. Open your Google Doc.
2. Click on the exact spot in the document where you roughly want the text box to appear (you can move it later).
3. Click on the Insert menu at the very top of the screen.
4. Hover your mouse over Drawing, then click New in the sub-menu.
5. A large, checkered canvas window will pop up over your document. This is the Drawing tool.
6. Look at the toolbar at the top of this canvas and click the Text Box icon (it looks like a small square with a capital “T” inside it).
7. Click and hold your mouse button on the checkered canvas, then drag diagonally to draw the physical box.
8. A blinking cursor will appear inside the box. Type or paste your desired text.

While you are still in this Drawing window, you can use the toolbar to format the text (change the font, size, and colour) or format the box itself (add a solid background fill colour or a border). Once you are happy with how it looks, click the blue Save and Close button in the top right corner.

The text box will now appear inside your main document as a single, solid object.

How to Move and Wrap the Text Box

When you first insert the text box, it will likely behave like a massive, awkward character sitting in the middle of a sentence. To unlock its ability to float freely, you must change its text wrapping settings.

1. Click once on the new text box in your document to select it. A blue outline will appear around it, along with a small menu floating underneath it.
2. In that floating menu, you will see several icons showing different text wrapping styles.
3. Click the Wrap text icon (it is usually the second icon, showing lines of text flowing around a square).

Now, click and hold the text box with your mouse. You can drag it anywhere on the page. As you move it, you will see the regular paragraph text in your document automatically get out of the way and wrap neatly around the edges of your floating box.

How to Edit the Text Later

Because the text box is technically treated as a “Drawing” object by Google Docs, you cannot simply click the text inside it and start typing to make a correction.

If you spot a typo or need to update the information inside the box later:

1. Double-click the text box directly.
2. This will instantly reopen the Drawing canvas window.
3. Make your changes to the text.
4. Click Save and Close to push the updated box back into your document.