Add text

You can add text directly to a table cell and change its appearance—including its font, color, size, and alignment.

If you want to add text outside of a table cell, you can add a text box to a sheet. A text box is an object that can be modified like most other objects; you can rotate it, change its border, fill it with a color, layer it, and more. The text inside the box can be formatted like any other type of text.

You can also add text in a shape.

Create a new text box

Click Text in the toolbar. A text box is added to your sheet (you can change how it looks later).
Click the text box, then type your own text to replace the placeholder text.
Resize the text box, if necessary, by selecting it and dragging any selection handle (a white square).

To edit the text, double-click the text box, then click where you want to add the insertion point and type your own text.

To delete a text box, select it, then press Delete.

Enter special characters and symbols

You can insert special characters in text, such as mathematical symbols; letters with accent marks; arrows and emoticons; Japanese, Chinese, and Korean characters; and more.

Click in the text where you want the character or symbol to appear.
Choose Edit > Special Characters (from the Edit menu at the top of your computer screen) to open the Characters window.
Click an icon at the bottom of the Characters window to choose a category of characters (click the left or right arrows to see more categories).
Click the character you want to insert in your text.

For information about using keyboards and input methods for other languages, go to Help > Help Center and search for “input menu.”

Add a title to a sheet

To add a title to a sheet, simply add a text box to it.

Click Text in the toolbar.
Click the text box, then type your title.
Drag the text box to where you want it.