Enter text in an area

Area type (also called paragraph type) uses the boundaries of an object to control the flow of characters, either horizontally or vertically. When the text reaches a boundary, it automatically wraps to fit inside the defined area. Entering text this way is useful when you want to create one or more paragraphs, such as for a brochure.

Define the bounding area:
- Select the Type tool or the Vertical Type tool , and drag diagonally to define a rectangular bounding area.
- Draw the object you want to use as the bounding area. (It doesn’t matter if the object has stroke or fill attributes, because Illustrator automatically removes them.) Then select the Type tool , the Vertical Type tool , the Area Type tool , or the Vertical Area Type tool and click anywhere on the object’s path.
  
  Creating a type area by dragging (top) compared to converting an existing shape to a type area (bottom)
  
  Note: If the object is an open path, you must use the Area Type tool to define the bounding area. Illustrator draws an imaginary line between the endpoints of the path to define the boundaries.
(Optional) Set text-formatting options in the Control panel, Character panel, or Paragraph panel.
Enter the text. Press Enter or Return to begin a new paragraph.
When you finish entering text, click the Selection tool to select the type object. Alternatively, Ctrl‑click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the text.
If you enter more text than can fit within an area, a small box containing a plus symbol (+) appears near the bottom of the bounding area.

Example of overflow text

You can resize the text area or extend the path to display the overflow text. You can also thread the text into another object.

For a video on creating point and area type, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0045. For more information about working with type in Illustrator, see the Working with Type white paper at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ai_type.