Default Text Box in MS Word 365

Question

Why doesn't the "Set as default text box" command actually work?  I've tried many times to change the default text box, but to no avail.  The next text box I insert has the factory default settings.

Answer 1

Hi Jim

Set as default text box works only for current document.

If you want all new text boxes, in all documents, to be affected, then open the Normal template and perform the steps. (Insert text box and after you set the desired border and fill effects, right click Set as Default text box.)

Refer this link to open Normal.dotm (Please take a backup before you modify this)

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/change...

Answer 2

Thank you for your response.  To be clear, the command for "set as default text box" doesn't work even within one document.  After having set the default for the document, the very next text box I insert has the same factory settings as before.  I have already tried changing the normal template.  It works for many other settings such as margins and font, but the default text box setting doesn't stick there either.  Is microsoft planning to fix this bug?  I know I am not the only one with this problem.

Answer 3

I do not really know what a default text box is. I'm not sure why that command is in the right-click menu. I suspect that it is a carry-over from the menu versions of Word.

As far as I know, the only time the default text box is used is when you use vba to insert a text box. In the menu versions you would tell Word to insert a text box and it would insert the default which you could then modify. Now you are give the text box gallery. Setting a text box as default does not change the gallery.

Text boxes are Building Blocks these days. I can assign a name and category so that a particular one shows up at the top of the list. (Both names and categories are displayed in alphabetical order.) Setting a text box as default does not change what shows up in the list. You would save in the Text Box gallery to have it show up as a text box when you use Insert > Text Box.

Adding your text box to the building blocks gallery also allows you to add default text. Saving as default does not.

You can also create a keyboard shortcut for one and can use the F3 key together with the name to insert one, just as with other building blocks.

Automated Boilerplate Using Microsoft Word

"Text box" as a term is used in other ways in Word. The above is about the introduction of a shape that contains text.

The other uses include a text formfield or content control or a text box control in a UserForm. If that is what is being discussed, it is important to specify. Most experienced Word users mean the shape when they talk about text boxes.

Answer 4

Which text box settings are you trying to save as the default (for text boxes in the current document)? Here, outlines and colors will be correctly set as the default for a text box. I did my testing using the right-click/context menu (Word 2019, version 1912).

However, you can't set any defaults for the text inside the text box, if that is what you are trying to do.