Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I was able in the past to double click on a PowerPoint arrow/line in order to add a caption to the line. This is not working in PP 2010.
Anyone knows a way to add text to a line ? (without creating a group with a text box and a line)
PS: I'm not totally sure about being able to do it. I have the feeling that I was double clicking on line to have text next to it on a 2003 version.
You may've used one of the arrow autoshapes, but regular lines (and lines with arrowheads) have never allowed this. Under the hood, most shapes have what's called a "text frame", which is PowerPoint's container for text associated with that shape. Lines and arrows don't have a text frame and so can't contain text.
Shapes such as squares, circles, callout balloons, and block arrows* can contain text. When you type text into a shape, the text attaches to the shape and moves and rotates with it.
If you need any additonal help, or want to see how I came up with my answer, you can watch the video on this site, and/or look at this Microosft Help and How-To
*To add a block arrow, use Insert->Shapes->Block Arrows (PowerPoint 2010 and later).
You can create Line and Text box, select and Group them. It might not be perfect, but text will always stay with that connector line.
In PP2007 and PP2010 you can add text to lines that connect boxes within certain SmartArt objects such as a Horizontal Hierarchy diagram. The text is automatically rotated to align with the direction of the connecting line. To do this, create a Horizontal Hierarchy SmartArt object, define two or more hierarchical entries, then click on one of the lines connecting the hierarchical boxes and start typing.
If you create an unadorned text box, then create two lines/arrows to connect on either side of the text box, it mostly looks like a label in the middle of a single, long arrow, especially if you do something like replacing a single-arrow with a line and another single-arrow, or a double-arrow with opposing single-arrows.
I think this is better than trying to create a text box near a single line/arrow and grouping them together, because the grouping approach doesn't move the label if the line moves because you moved the object(s) that are connected to the line endpoints. Two lines/arrows don't move the label, either, but they also don't disassociate the line from the label. You will still have the lines pointing to the label and can then move the label.
