There are two ways you can insert a text into a Word document

First method:

From the Ribbon, under the tab Insert, within the group Text, click the Text Box icon. You can view a gallery of built-in text boxes in a drop-down list. From the ribbon under the tab insert within the group text click the text box icon you can view a gallery of built in text boxes in a drop-down list

1. Click to insert one of these into your document. Depending on the Text Wrapping property of the selected text box, it may sit on top of text, behind the text, in line with text, surrounded by text, etc.
2. Now, to reveal the text wrapping property of the inserted text box, click the text box on the borders. Text Box Tools tab appears on the Ribbon.
3. Click the Format tab under this. Under the Format tab, within the group Arrange, click the Text Wrapping icon. From the drop-down menu, you can view various text-wrapping styles and the one highlighted is the default style. You can change this property as required.

You can also create a new empty text box from the gallery drop-down. Click Draw Text Box from the bottom of the drop-down. The mouse pointer changes to a plus symbol and you can draw a text box.

Note: Text wrapping styles are: In Line with Text, Square, Tight, Behind Text, In Front of Text, Top and Bottom, and Through. All these style are self-explanatory.

Difference between Square and Tight

You may wonder about the difference between Square and Tight styles, as in both case text surrounds the box. Difference lies in the manner that text surrounds. With Square, text takes the shape of a square around the box (irrespective box shape). With Tight, surrounding text takes the shape of the box (e.g. star shaped box, trapezoid, hexagon, etc.)

Second method:

1. From the Ribbon, under the tab Insert, within the group Illustrations, click Shapes. From the gallery of Shapes, under Basic Shapes, click the Rectangle shape.
2. The mouse pointer changes to a plus symbol and you can draw a rectangular shape in your document. What you can draw is a basic rectangular shape and you cannot enter text readily.
3. Right-click the shape and from the right-click menu, select Add Text. The shape transforms to a text box and you can enter text.
4. Change the text-wrapping property of the text boxes as explained above.

How to fix text boxes in one  line

If you select the text wrapping style of a text box to In Line with Text, the text box gets fixed  to that line. So, the text box will move only with the line.

Formatting text boxes

You can design a text box with fill color, gradient color, border color, shadow, 3D effects, and many more.

1. Right-click on the borders of the text box and from the right-click menu, select Format Text Box. Format Text Box dialog box appears.
2. From the Colors and Lines tab, apply fill color, change transparency of color, add border line color, change border line pattern, etc.
3. From the Size tab, select height and width of the text box, lock aspect  ratio,
4. In the Layout tab, you can select the text wrapping type as discussed above. You can also specify height and width of the text box relative to the page, page margin, etc.
5. In the Text Box tab, set the left, right, bottom, and top margins the text inside the text box. Also, set the vertical alignments: Top, Center, or Bottom.

Use built in text box styles

You can select the built in text box styles from the Text Box Styles group under Text Box Tools tab >> Format tab >> Tex Box Styles

Change direction of text inside text box

If you want the text inside text box to appear vertically (from top or bottom), under the Format tab, within group Text, click Text Direction.

Flow text from one box to another

Select a text box and from the Format tab, within group Text, click Create Link. A coffee cup icon appears. Then click the next text box (should be a empty text box) to which you want the text to flow from the first text box. Done. It links the first text box to the second. Want to break the link, right-click on the first text box, then from the right click menu, select Break Forward Link.

Cut, Copy, and Paste text boxes

Click on the borders of text box and then right-click. From the right-click menu, select Copy to copy text box, select Cut to delete text box, and select Paste to paste the check box at the point of insertion.

Changing the text box shape

Under Text Box Tools tab >> Format tab >> Tex Box Styles, click Change Shape. From the drop-down, select any of the shapes. Text box takes the selected shape.

Grouping text boxes

If you are using  multiple text boxes in one place to create a design, flow chart, etc., you can group all to manage them easily, move them all together. To group, press CTRL and click on the borderlines of all text boxes one by one. Release the CTRL button and right-click on the selected text boxes. From the right-click menu, select Group under Grouping.