How To Add A Sidebar In Word

Sideheads (where a document'southward subheads appear out to the side of the text) and pull quotes are actually just two specific uses for text boxes in Microsoft Give-and-take. Hither'due south how to fix them upward.

Text boxes let you position small bits of text exactly where you want them in a Discussion document. Nearly oft, people utilise them for i of 2 purposes. The beginning is creating a sidehead, a subheading that'southward placed out to the left of the main torso of the document instead of inline with the text. The second is for pull quotes (or editorial notes), which are just blocks of text positioned either off to the side or inline with certificate text. They're used to call attending to specific text and also aid intermission upwardly text visually in long documents.

Creating either of these follows pretty much the same procedure: create a text box, put your text in information technology, and so position the box where you want it.

RELATED: How to Use Rulers in Microsoft Discussion

If you lot're placing the box out to the side of your text, you lot'll need to first make sure y'all have an adequate area of white infinite there. At that place are a few different means to do this, but we recommend using the indent and spacing tools on Word's Ruler display.

For our instance, we're going to highlight the first iii paragraphs and then drag the Right Indent marking on the Ruler over to the 5-inch marker, creating a pocket of space to the right of those paragraphs. Yous could also drag the Left Indent mark to make the same space on the left side, and you lot can do this at any position in your document. If you're creating a pull quote that you desire to appear inline with the text, you won't need to bother with this footstep.

After making sure some space is available, it's time to insert the text box. Switch over to the "Insert" tab on the Ribbon. In the "Text" section of the menu, click the "Text Box" dropdown, and so click i of the text box options y'all run across there. Nosotros're going with "Uncomplicated Text Box," but you can also utilise the stylized options if yous want.

The text box is inserted into your document wherever your cursor was positioned, merely y'all can elevate the box to the empty space y'all created (or wherever else you want). Resize the text box past dragging any of the circle-shaped anchor points at the border of the box, or rotate it with the circular arrow tool above. You tin position in the margin on the side of the page, merely if you're going to be printing the document, exist careful non to place whatever text across where your printer is capable of printing (usually a quarter inch or vi-7 millimeters from the border).

When you have the size correct, highlight the sample text in the box and supplant it with the text you want. Y'all can adjust the font, size, and text effects with the standard tools in the "Home" tab on the Ribbon—but like you lot would with whatsoever other text.

Yous tin apply as much or as picayune text equally y'all want, limited merely by the size of the text box. Of course, using a larger font or text size may create scaling issues, particularly with longer words.

If you're creating a "sidehead," yous'll unremarkably desire to put the text box in the actual margin—and traditionally the the left margin.

Note: When using a text box to create sideheads, Word can get a little finicky well-nigh how information technology treats those headings. If you mode the text with one of your heading styles, the sidehead will be included in automatically generated tables of content, but won't appear equally a navigable heading in Word's Navigation pane. You lot might accept to do a footling experimenting to get things how you like them, but and so we're pretty sure that'south the official Word motto, anyhow.

Typically, dropping the text box where you want information technology aligns the text around the box in a pretty decent style—especially if yous've specifically made room for the box. If y'all want more control, click the page icon to the side of the text box to open the "Layout Options" popup.

RELATED: Working with Pictures, Shapes, and Graphics

Here you tin adjust how the text box interacts with surrounding text. For most uses, the default settings piece of work fine, but for more avant-garde layout options, be certain to cheque out our guide to working with pictures, shapes, and graphics in Microsoft Discussion.