The difference between a text box and a frame
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Text boxes and frames are both containers for text that can be position on a page and sized.
If you are familiar with earlier versions of Microsoft Word, you used frames when you wanted to wrap text around a graphic. Now, you wrap text around a graphic of any size or shape without first inserting it in a text box or frame.
However, you must use a frame instead of a text box when you want to position text or graphics that contain certain items.
Use a text box when you want to do any of the following:
- Make text flow from one part of a document to another part by linking the text boxes.
- Format the text container by using the options on the Drawing toolbar. You can apply 3-D effects, shadows, border styles and colors, fills, and backgrounds.
- Rotate and flip text boxes.
- Change the orientation of text in a text box by using the Text Direction command (Format menu).
- Group your text containers and change the alignment or distribution of them as a group.
Use frames when your text or graphics contain the following:
- Comments, as indicated by comment marks.
- Footnotes or endnotes, as indicated by note reference marks.
- Certain fields, including AUTONUM, AUTONUMLGL, AUTONUMOUT
— used for numbering lists and paragraphs in legal documents and outlines — TC (Table of Contents Entry), TOC (Table of Contents), RD (Referenced Document), XE (Index Entry), TA (Table of Authorities Entry), and TOA (Table of Authority) fields.
When you open a document that contains frames from a previous version of Word, Word keeps the frames. When you select a frame, the Frame command appears on the Format menu.