To restore the Text Box toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.) if the toolbar is no longer visible, click a text box in your document, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Text Box. (Your document must contain a text box for this toolbar to be available on the list.)

The pitcher-shaped pointer does not appear to tilt — or pour — if a text box link can't be created. For a text box or shape to be eligible to receive a link, all the following must be true:

• Linked text boxes must be contained in a single document.
• The text box you are linking to must be empty.
• The text box must not already be in a chain, or story (story: A document area that contains a range of text distinct from other areas of text in a document. For example, if a document includes body text, footnotes, and headers, it contains a main text story, footnotes story, and headers story.).
• The text box cannot be contained in a different subdocument in a master document (master document: A "container" for a set of separate files (or subdocuments). You can use a master document to set up and manage a multipart document, such as a book with several chapters.). You also cannot split subdocuments that contain linked text boxes belonging to the same story.
• The maximum number of links you can have in one story is 31, which means that a maximum of 32 text boxes or shapes can be linked. If the text doesn't fit in the linked text boxes or shapes, you can make the text smaller or make the text box or shape larger.

When you insert a text box or other drawing object, a drawing canvas (drawing canvas: An area on which you can draw multiple shapes. Because the shapes are contained within the drawing canvas, they can be moved and resized as a unit.) is placed around it.

You can change this setting by clicking Options on the Tools menu, clicking the General tab, and then clearing the Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes check box.

If you've already inserted a text box with a drawing canvas around it, you can drag the text box off the drawing canvas. To remove the empty drawing canvas from your document, select it, and then press DELETE.

When you select text in one linked text box, Microsoft Word doesn't let you extend the selection to include the text in the next linked text box.

To select all the text in your linked text boxes, you can follow one of these procedures:

• Copy the text from each text box separately and paste it in a separate location in the document or in another document.
• Resize the first text box to include all the text (by dragging the sizing handles (sizing handle: One of the small circles or squares that appears at the corners and sides of a selected object. You drag these handles to change the size of the object.)), and then copy the text to the location you want.

Text or graphics that contain comments (comment: A note or annotation that an author or reviewer adds to a document. Microsoft Word displays the comment in a balloon in the margin of the document or in the Reviewing Pane.), footnotes, endnotes, or certain fields (field: A set of codes that instructs Microsoft Word to insert text, graphics, page numbers, and other material into a document automatically. For example, the DATE field inserts the current date.) don't work correctly in text boxes. If you need to control the positioning of text that contains any of these items, you must use frames (frame: A container that you can resize and position anywhere on the page. To position text or graphics that contain comments, footnotes, endnotes, or certain fields, you must use a frame instead of a text box.).

You might be trying to link text boxes that are in different subdocuments. To link text boxes in a master document (master document: A "container" for a set of separate files (or subdocuments). You can use a master document to set up and manage a multipart document, such as a book with several chapters.), the text boxes must be in the same subdocument. Move or copy the text boxes to the same subdocument and try again.

When you use the Word Count command on the Tools menu, Microsoft Word excludes the text in all text boxes (text box: A movable, resizable container for text or graphics. Use text boxes to position several blocks of text on a page or to give text a different orientation from other text in the document.) for both the document's word and line count.

You can count the text in one text box at a time.

If you've changed the direction of the text in your linked text boxes, you may not be able to move between the linked text boxes with the Next Text Box or the Previous Text Box button on the Text Box toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.). You can try one of the following:

• Change the text direction by clicking Change Text Direction on the Text Box toolbar. Click Next Text Box or Previous Text Box on the Text Box toolbar to move between the linked text boxes.
• Click outside the text boxes anywhere in the document. Then click one text box to select it. Click Next Text Box or Previous Text Box on the Text Box toolbar to move between the linked text boxes.

The Resize AutoShape to fit text setting does not apply to linked text boxes, because they are designed so that text flows to the next text box if the text is longer than the text box boundaries.