Troubleshoot linked text boxes

To restore the Text Box toolbar if the toolbar is no longer visible, click a text box in your document, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Text Box. (Your document must contain a text box for this toolbar to be available on the list.)

When I copy a linked text box, the text in it disappears.

The pitcher-shaped pointer does not appear to tilt— or pour— if a text box link can't be created. For a text box or shape to be eligible to receive a link, all the following must be true:

• Linked text boxes must be contained in a single document.
• The text box you are linking to must be empty.
• The text box must not already be in a chain, or story.
• The text box cannot be contained in a different subdocument in a master document. You also cannot split subdocuments that contain linked text boxes belonging to the same story.
• The maximum number of links you can have in one story is 31, which means that a maximum of 32 text boxes or shapes can be linked. If the text doesn't fit in the linked text boxes or shapes, you can make the text smaller or make the text box or shape larger.

When you insert a text box or other drawing object, a drawing canvas is placed around it.

You can change this setting by clicking Options on the Tools menu, clicking the General tab, and then clearing the Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes check box.

If you've already inserted a text box with a drawing canvas around it, you can drag the text box off the drawing canvas. To remove the empty drawing canvas from your document, select it, and then press DELETE.

When you select text in one linked text box, Microsoft Word doesn't let you extend the selection to include the text in the next linked text box.

To select all the text in your linked text boxes, you can follow one of these procedures:

• Copy the text from each text box separately and paste it in a separate location in the document or in another document.
• Resize the first text box to include all the text (by dragging the sizing handles), and then copy the text to the location you want.

If a table is placed in linked text boxes and the bottom of the table row extends below the text box, it might appear clipped. A table can flow from one text box to another, but a table row can't flow between two text boxes. You can either enlarge the text box to show all of the row or reduce the size of the text box so the row breaks and appears in the next text box.

Text or graphics that contain comments, footnotes, endnotes, or certain fields don't work correctly in text boxes. If you need to control the positioning of text that contains any of these items, you must use frames.

You might be trying to link text boxes that are in different subdocuments. To link text boxes in a master document, the text boxes must be in the same subdocument. Move or copy the text boxes to the same subdocument and try again.

When you use the Word Count command on the Tools menu, Microsoft Word excludes the text in all text boxes for both the document's word and line count.

You can count the text in one text box at a time.

If you've changed the direction of the text in your linked text boxes, you may not be able to move between the linked text boxes with the Next Text Box or the Previous Text Box button on the Text Box toolbar. You can try one of the following:

• Change the text direction by clicking Change Text Direction on the Text Box toolbar. Click Next Text Box or Previous Text Box on the Text Box toolbar to move between the linked text boxes.
• Click outside the text boxes anywhere in the document. Then click one text box to select it. Click Next Text Box or Previous Text Box on the Text Box toolbar to move between the linked text boxes.

The Resize AutoShape to fit text setting does not apply to linked text boxes, because they are designed so that text flows to the next text box if the text is longer than the text box boundaries.