WordArt gives you the freedom to create decorative text in your document. You can select from a variety of predefined shapes, plus add shadows, change color schemes, create gradient, use skewed, rotated and stretched effects. Because it is a drawing object, you can even fill the text effect with a picture to create a unique effect.

You can access WordArt in any of the MS Office products. The techniques are essentially the same no matter which program you chose to use. Before you begin, I recommend that you open the Drawing Toolbar. Once you activate WordArt, its toolbar will automatically open. Between these two toolbars you have a world of options to creatively explore.

Inserting Word Art

• Open the Drawing Toolbar – Right Click anywhere in the toolbar section of your program window and select Drawing. Alternatively, you can use View | Toolbars on the main program menu. I usually position my drawing toolbar at the bottom of the program window for easy access.



• Click on the Insert WordArt button. The Blue A tilted to the right – 9th button from the left of the toolbar. The WordArt Gallery will be displayed



• Select a style that is most suited for your project by clicking on it. Remember you can effectively change the color format and shape once the initial drawing object is created. Click on OK to display the Edit WordArt Text dialog box.

• Type your text message in the text box. The sample words will automatically delete as you start to type. Notice you can also affect the font style and size as well as use a bold or italicized effect.



• Click on OK and your Word Art will be inserted in your document and the Word Art Toolbar will be displayed.



Notice that the drawing object has handles (although not shown in the illustration above) in each of the 4 corners and in the center along the top and sides. These handles are used to resize the drawing object. You can elongate the object by pulling on the side handle or stretch it vertically by pulling on the center top handle. Each of the corner handles can be used to proportionately resize by pulling on it in a diagonal direction. If you are using Office 2000 or better, in PowerPoint, you will see a pale green dot above the top center handle. This green dot is the rotate tool. Hover your mouse pointer over the green dot until you see a circular icon displayed. Click and hold, then rotate your WordArt in the direction in which you want it to tilt.

Also in PowerPoint, below the bottom center handle, you will observe a yellow triangle. This tool allows you to slant your text to the left or to the right. Hover your mouse pointer over the tool, click and hold; drag the tool either to the left or to the right until you get your desired effect.