Troubleshoot connecting text boxes

• If you delete a text box from the beginning or middle of a story, any text that was in the deleted box is added to the box that followed it, and all other text is pushed down into other boxes in the chain.
• If you delete the text box at the end of a chain of boxes, any text that was in the deleted box goes into the overflow of the previous box.
• If you delete all the boxes in a chain of connected boxes, you delete all the text as well.

The page you deleted probably contained a text box that was part of a story. When you deleted that page, the text was moved to a connected box on another page. Do one of the following:

• Delete the text before you delete the page it's on.
• If you've already deleted that page, delete the text from the page it now appears on.

If the box isn't connected to any other boxes and text is missing from the box, the text has overflowed the text box.

A text box with text in overflow will have a Text in Overflow indicator on the lower right-hand corner of the box. You cannot see text that is in overflow.

If the box is connected to other boxes, the text will be displayed in the next connected box in the story. A text box connected to another box will have a Go to Previous Box button on the top left corner of the box or Go to Next Box button on the bottom right corner of the box.

The size of the text box doesn't change when you adjust its margins. Therefore, if you increase the size of the margins, the text may not fit in the smaller space. Some of the text may move into a connected text box or overflow the current box. Try the following:

• Reduce the size of the text.
• Increase the size of the text box.

If there is more text than the text box can hold, Publisher stores the extra text in overflow where you can't see it. If there is text in overflow, a Text In Overflow indicator appears at the lower-right corner of the text box .

Here are some ways to get your text out of overflow and back into your publication.

• Turn on automatic copyfitting.

  How?

  1. Click the text box.
  2. On the Format menu, point to AutoFit Text.
  3. Do one of the following:
     • To shrink or expand text to fit in the text box when you resize the box, click Best Fit.
     • To reduce the point size of text until there is no text in overflow, click Shrink Text On Overflow.
• Make the text box larger.
• Make the margins in the text box smaller.
• Connect the filled text box to another box so any extra text is displayed in the other box.

  How?

  When you connect text boxes, text that won't fit into the first text box flows into the next text box. A chain of connected text boxes containing a story can span multiple pages.

  Use connected boxes to:

  • Continue a story in another text box.
  • Create columns of different widths.
  • Move text in overflow into another box.

  1. If needed, create a new text box.

     How?

     1. On the Objects toolbar, click Text Box .
     2. In your publication, point to where you want one corner of the text to appear, and then drag diagonally until you have the box size you want.
  2. Click in the text box you want as the first text box in the story.
  3. On the Connect Text Boxes toolbar, click Create Text Box Link .

     The mouse pointer changes to a pitcher .

  4. Click in the text box you want as the next in the story.

     This text box is now connected to the first box and any text in overflow now appears in the next box.

  5. To connect more text boxes to the story, repeat steps 3 and 4.

1. Click anywhere in the text box.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select All.

   All the text in a box or all text in a story is highlighted.

Note  To move among boxes, click Go to Next Box and Go to Previous Box .

Continued notices do not appear if:

• They haven't yet been added to the story. To add Continued notices, use the Text Box tab of the Format Text Box dialog box (Format menu, Text Box command).
• The next text box in a story doesn't contain text.
• The next connected box is on the same page.
• The current box is on a master page.
• The current box isn't connected to another box.

  Or the text box may not be big enough to fit a Continued notice. In that case, you can make the box bigger.

If the Continued notice still doesn't appear, you can:

• Reword the notice.

  How?

  • In the text box, make any changes you want to the Continued notice.
  • To insert a missing page number, click Page Numbers on the Insert menu.

    Repeat for every notice you want to change.

• Reduce its font size.

You probably clicked on the edge of the text box instead of clicking in the box. Click in the text box. When you see the insertion point, press CTRL+A.

You may have selected Start in next text box on the Line and Paragraph Breaks tab of the Paragraph dialog box (on the Format menu, click Paragraph). How to resolve this problem depends on whether the paragraph starts in a connected text box or whether the paragraph overflows the text box.

• Clear the Start in next text box option for a paragraph that starts in a connected text box.

  How?

  1. Go to the next connected text box.
  2. Select the first paragraph in the text box.
  3. On the Format menu, click Paragraph, and then click the Line and Paragraph Breaks tab.
  4. Clear the Start in next text box check box.
• Clear the Start in next text box option for a paragraph that overflows the text box.

  How?

  1. Create a new text box in the scratch area.
  2. Click on the first text box to select it.
  3. Click Create Text Box Link on the toolbar.

     The mouse pointer changes to a pitcher .

  4. Click in the text box you created in the scratch area.
  5. Select the first paragraph in the text box.
  6. On the Format menu, click Paragraph, and then click the Line and Paragraph Breaks tab.
  7. Clear the Start in next text box check box.
  8. Do one of the following:
     • Delete the text box you created in the scratch area.
     • Drag the text box from the scratch area to a page where you want to use it.
     • Unlink the text boxes.

     Note  Once you create a linked text box, text will always flow into it unless you delete or unlink the text box.