A text box is a useful object to add to a document that you are editing in Microsoft Word. Text boxes are versatile, easy to move around the document, and you can format them separately from the rest of your content. But you might be working on a document that contains a text box that isn’t necessary anymore, which can leave you looking for a way to remove it from the document. Our guide below will walk you through a short method that can help you to delete that text box.
How to Remove a Text Box from a Word 2013 Document
Our guide continues below with additional information on deleting text boxes in Word 2013, including pictures of these steps.
How to Get Rid of Text Boxes in Microsoft Word (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed in Microsoft Word 2013 but will work in other versions of Word as well. Note that this method of removing the text box from your document is going to delete the text box and its information, so make sure that you are able to lose this information before you complete these steps.
Step 1: Open your document in Word 2013.
Step 2: Locate the text box that you want to delete, then click on the border of the text box once to select it.
Step 3: Press the Delete key or the Backspace key on your keyboard to delete the text box from your document.
Our tutorial continues below with more information on removing Word text boxes, including how you can remove a border from a text box if you still want to keep the box and the text within it.
Can I Remove a Text Box in Word Without Removing Text?
If you have information contained within a text box, but you would like that text to be part of the document, then you can always simply cut and paste the text from the text box into the desired location within the document. You can then follow the steps above to delete the remaining, empty text box object. To cut text you can use your mouse to select it, then use the keyboard shortcut on Ctrl + X. This temporarily removes the content from its existing location and puts it on your clipboard. You can then click at the point in the document where you wish to add the cut text, then press Ctrl + V to paste text in that location. However, if you like the placement of the text box, but want to remove the “box” part of it, namely the line around the box, then you can do that, too. This is accomplished by formatting the text box so that it has no border, which we will discuss in the following section.
How to Remove Text Box Border in Word 2013
A text box in Microsoft Word 2013 is an object, similar to an image or shape that you could also add to the document. This designation means that you can apply some different types of formatting to the text box, and one of the elements over which you have control is the border. To remove a text box border in Microsoft Word you can use these steps: The border of the text box should now be gone, leaving only the text that was contained within it. You can always add the border back by returning to this Shape Outline dropdown menu and choosing a different color. You could also use the Shape Fill option if you want to change the background color of the text box.
How Do I Get the Format Tab to Appear?
There are a series of tabs at the top of the window in a Microsoft Office Word document that are always visible. These include things like the Home tab, the Insert tab, the View tab, and more. But we reference a Shape Format tab in this article, which isn’t always visible. The formatting options for a text box appear only when you have clicked on or inside the text box.
Can I Delete Multiple Text Boxes in Word 2013?
Microsoft Word allows you to select multiple objects or groups of text by using the Ctrl key. To accomplish this you will select the first thing that you want to select, then hold down the Ctrl key and select the second, third, etc. object. Once all of those objects are selected you can apply the same change to each of them. This method of multiple selections works for text boxes as well. To delete multiple text boxes in Microsoft Word you click on the border of the first text box, then you hold down the Ctrl key and click on the border of the second text box. Once both text boxes are selected you can press the Delete button on the keyboard to delete them. Note that it’s a little tricky to select multiple text boxes at once, so you may need to try it a few times. When you have the Ctrl key held down and are trying to select the second text box the mouse cursor will change to one that looks like an arrow with a + and a box next to it when the cursor is in the right position. When you see that cursor style you can click with your mouse to select the second text box.
More Information on How to Delete a Text Box in Word 2013
Our guide above provides you with a method to remove a text box from a document by selecting it, then simply pressing a key on your keyboard. Since there is no dedicated button or tool to delete a Microsoft Word text box, this is the most efficient way to accomplish this task. If you only wish to delete the text within the text box, then you can click inside the text box, press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select everything inside of it, then press Delete or Backspace on your keyboard. This removes all of the text from the text box while leaving the text box itself intact. A text box in Word behaves a little differently than text that you add directly to the document body. You can drag a text box to a different location within a document, you can rotate a text box, or you can change its size. You can insert a text box by selecting the Insert tab at the top of the window, then clicking the Text Box button in the Text group of the ribbon. You can then click at any point in the document, at which point the text box appears in that location. If you have a text box in an Excel spreadsheet that you would also like to remove, then you can use a similar method to do so.
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