The part of the shape in which you type text is called a text block (text block: The text area associated with a shape that appears when you click the shape with the text tool or select it with the pointer tool.). A text block can differ from its shape in size, angle, and relative location, so you can place text where you want it in relation to a shape. Each shape has only one text block.

You can create text-only shapes to add titles and lists to a drawing. In a text-only shape, the shape has no line or fill, so only the text that you type in the shape is visible.

You can use text-only shapes to add text to an object you import from another program. To do this, position the text-only shape where you want to type text for the imported object.

When you use the Pointer tool , the Text Block tool , or any tool other than the Text tool to select a shape, you select all of the existing text. As a result, when you start to type, the new text you type replaces the existing text.

• You can select only part of the existing text by using the Text tool . When you use the Text tool to select a shape, you open the shape's text block. After you highlight text within a text block, you can delete, cut, copy, or format the selection, or you can type or paste to replace it.
• You can add new text without replacing any of the existing text by clicking with the Text tool to place an insertion point (insertion point: The blinking vertical line that appears in text when you select a shape with the text tool and click the text with the mouse. Text you type appears at the insertion point.) where you want to type new text.

Note  When you select text, the drawing is often magnified so that you can see what you're typing (unless you change the text magnification setting). To return to the original magnification, press ESC, or click anywhere outside the shape or text block after you type the text.

• You can copy or move formatted text within a shape's text block in a number of ways: from one Visio shape to another; from one Visio drawing page to another; from one instance of the Visio program to another; and from Visio to another program and vice versa.
• You can create a new instance of a text shape that has the same text as another shape by dragging the text from the existing shape onto a drawing page.

Printer fonts, bitmap fonts, and Postscript fonts are not supported in Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003 and Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003. If a specified font does not support a character that you type, Visio substitutes another font if it can. Consider installing the Unicode font when you install Visio to ensure that most characters can be displayed without requiring substitutions.