4

Is it possible to rotate a Text Box in Word 2007 by, say, 180 degrees?

I'd rather not have to convert the text to an image.

10 Answers 10

4

Sorry no, however this feature was added in Word 2010. In 2010 and above it is available in the section Format > Arrange > Rotate or via the rotation adorner.

Word 2010

And what the symbol looks like in Word 2016

Word 2016

2
  • Thanks Jay, I'll give it a go: microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx
    – Dunc
    Jan 22, 2010 at 15:18
  • For anyone using a file created with an older version of Word, I had to Save the document and break compatibility with older versions to show up. Only took them 13 versions to be able to rotate text. Woo!
    – RishiD
    Jul 29, 2012 at 16:24
4

Word has no built-in function to invert text, to rotate it by 180 degrees or produce mirror imaged text. A simple solution is to select the text and its box and copy to the clipboard then paste into a graphics application, such as Windows Paint. There, there are tools to flip or rotate the text according to requirements. The downside is that the text becomes no longer editable. This approach should work in all Word versions.

Source & Illustrations

Other than that, use PowerPoint or Publisher, there it's quite easy :)

2
  • Thanks Molly - I'm trying to avoid converting to a picture for quality reasons. A better solution (although a bit more fiddly) seems to be to zoom in first, press Print Scrn, then paste into Paint as you suggest.
    – Dunc
    Jan 22, 2010 at 15:14
  • @RaceFace - well, with word 2010 you'll have it your way ... soon :)
    – Molly7244
    Jan 22, 2010 at 15:51
4

There is an official way recommended by Microsoft to rotate text boxes in versions before Microsoft Office 2010.

  1. Select text box.
  2. Press Ctrl+X (cut)
  3. Select "Paste Special", then paste as PNG.
  4. Now you can rotate it like a picture (because now it is converted into an image.)

enter image description here

Now you can rotate it by dragging the green dot.

Changing it into PNG is the only way to rotate text boxes. (By changing text direction you cannot precisely define the degree of rotation.)

1

After adding your text box, keep your eye on the top of the tool bar. You'll have a transient pull-down called "TextBox Tools". Click that, and look for the "Text Direction" button (top left corner in my case).

Do note - this doesn't work with all fonts. I was going nuts trying to get this done with Courier, which didn't work. Finally realized it worked with Calibiri, so I used that instead.

0

You can use your smartart options in INSERT tab to invert text in MS WORD 2007. Select Insert Tab. Click on SMARTART option. Type text. Using rotate icon (green colored icon) rotate the text to invert.

0

Rotating a Text Box in Word 2007:

  1. Insert; SmartArt; All; Basic Block List; Click OK(There are 5textboxes as default. You may delete the 4 so that 1textbox will be used);
  2. Encode your texts; You can change Fonts, Font Size, Font Color;
  3. Format; Shape Fill, No Fill; Shape Outline, Black; Weight, 3/4pt;
  4. Text Wrapping, You can Choose IN FRONT OF TEXT;
  5. Drag the "SmartArt Outline" until there is a clearance between the black shape outline;
  6. Click the Shape Outline and you see the GREEN circle; You can drag it down or Right Click, Format Shape, 3-D Rotation. Congrats.
-1

Open the text box and Rotate it manually, and stop just before 180°.(At 180° direction of text will change to normal)

-1

you can rotate the text in excel 2007 by selecting insert>shapes>text box, write text in text box and then you can rotate the text box from 0 to 360 degrees.If don't require the text box border select text box>format>shape outline>select white color. select text box copy and paste in word 2007

1
  • Please read the previous answers before posting. There are much better answers posted (and accepted) long ago, so your answer doesn't really contribute anything. Oct 5, 2014 at 16:18
-1

Word 2007 allows you to rotate a text box 90 degrees right or left.

On Insert tab select text box and choose box style Format tab opens automatically. At left end of the ribbon, click on Text Direction and toggle through the options.

1
  • There is no such option "choose box style" in Word 2007 May 14, 2021 at 7:35
-2

If I need to rotate a text box, I insert a rectangle, right mouse click and choose add text. Then, I can not only rotate the rectangle shape, I can change the orientation of the text.

1
  • Unfortunately rotating the rectangle doesn't change the text orientation, and using the 'Text Direction' button only rotates 90 degrees each way - not the full 180 degrees.
    – Dunc
    Jul 4, 2011 at 9:59

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .