Inserting and Manipulating Text Boxes

Quick reference

• 00:04 In this lesson, we will learn how to add a simple text box to a slide and
• 00:08 make changes to that text box to give it the perfect look to fit our slide design.
• 00:13 Let's get started because we have a lot to cover in this lesson.
• 00:16 First, let's add a new text box to our slide.
• 00:19 To do this, we simply click on the text box button on the tool bar.
• 00:23 This will add a new text box to our canvas.
• 00:26 By default, the style is defined by the theme's design.
• 00:30 If we were using a different theme, the style for a new text box would look
• 00:34 different than it does in this theme, which is called Showroom.
• 00:37 Now that we have our text box, let's add some text by clicking on the box.
• 00:42 When we're done, we could deselect the text box by clicking on the canvas area
• 00:46 outside of the text box.
• 00:48 You'll notice that the formatting pane to the right will automatically adjust and
• 00:51 adapt based on what, if anything, we have selected on the canvas.
• 00:56 When we select our text box, for example, we are given options to adjust font,
• 01:01 size, color, line spacing, etc.
• 01:03 Since we're already here, let's explore some of these options.
• 01:08 At the very top, you will notice a section called Styles.
• 01:11 Most themes come with a list of predefined styles you can choose from.
• 01:15 It may be worth exploring some of these styles on your new text box
• 01:18 to see if you like any of them.
• 01:20 If you can't find a style that suits your needs, we can adjust properties of our
• 01:23 text box using other settings found below and on other tabs.
• 01:28 Below the styles section, we can find properties for
• 01:30 fill type, border style, shadows and opacity settings.
• 01:36 There are several different types of fill styles including a solid color, gradient,
• 01:40 and even an image fill option.
• 01:43 Choose the type of fill you want to use, and
• 01:45 additional properties will be provided for you below.
• 01:48 This is what it looks like when we add a gradient fill, for example.
• 01:52 Adding borders is just as simple as choosing a fill type.
• 01:56 Click the drop-down menu to reveal two options, Line and Picture Frame.
• 02:01 If we choose Line we will be given a list of styles to choose from.
• 02:05 We can also choose the color of the line, as well as the line weight or thickness.
• 02:11 Adding a shadow to a text box is not only useful, but can be fun.
• 02:15 There are three types of shadows to choose from.
• 02:18 Drop, Contact and Curved.
• 02:21 Each of these can add their own unique look and feel to your text box.
• 02:25 Once we have chosen the style that we want to use, we can adjust the blur, offset and
• 02:30 opacity of the shadow, as well as the angle or
• 02:32 perspective, depending on the shadow type.
• 02:35 If you want to add a baseline reflection to your text box,
• 02:38 we can just click the reflection check box here.
• 02:41 The last visual option we can adjust on the text box is the level of opacity.
• 02:46 This is great if you want to soften a text box just a little bit or even a lot.
• 02:52 Before we switch gears, let's go back to the Style section at the top.
• 02:56 Now that we have designed our very own style, we may want to use this same style
• 03:00 on other text boxes that we add to this presentation.
• 03:03 Rather than recreating the wheel over and
• 03:05 over again, we can choose to create our very own style.
• 03:09 We do this by clicking the Add button here.
• 03:12 As you can see, we can add multiple custom styles.
• 03:15 Now if we add another text box and want it to match the same look and
• 03:20 feel, all we have to do is choose our newly created style.
• 03:25 These styles are saved as part of the file, not system-wide.
• 03:29 That's something you'll wanna keep in mind for future projects.
• 03:32 Now that we have explored the visual effects that we can apply to text boxes,
• 03:36 let's take a look at text formatting options.
• 03:39 Since most of us are familiar with how to change font styles, sizes and
• 03:43 colors, we won't go through those details here, but
• 03:46 this is where you can set those properties.
• 03:48 One option I did want to draw your attention to, however,
• 03:51 is this button here.
• 03:52 This is where we can set advanced options for our text.
• 03:56 Two of my favorite advanced options are the Character Spacing and Character Fill.
• 04:01 Adjusting the Character Spacing will allow us to add spacing between each character
• 04:06 in a very granular way, in increments of a single percentage point if we want.
• 04:11 Adding a Character Fill can make your text stand out
• 04:14 in ways that you may not have imagined you could.
• 04:17 These, in conjunction with the other text options available here,
• 04:20 will give you the level of control that you need to really make the text on your
• 04:23 Keynote slides pop.
• 04:25 As you can see, your design options are limitless with Keynote.
• 04:29 It's now up to you determine the best way that you can use these
• 04:32 features to create your very own presentation style.
• 04:35 I recommend taking time today to explore some of these options on your own and
• 04:39 test their functionality.

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