No matter how you use text in a diagram, Lucidchart makes it easy for you to add text to different elements, edit the text’s appearance and layout, and upload custom fonts to the editor. Read on to learn more.

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Add text to a diagram

You can add text to:

shapes
lines
images
directly to the canvas using a text box

Tip: To quickly search and add emoji to a line of text, type a colon followed by a keyword. From the menu that appears, select an emoji.

Add a text box to the canvas

Double-click anywhere on the canvas or drag and drop the Text shape from the Shape menu.

drag

Add a text block to the canvas

Drag and drop the Block shape from the Shape menu. The Block shape is similar to a text box, but allows you to add a border and background color.

Add text to a shape

Drag and drop a shape from the Shape menu or double-click on an existing shape and start typing.

drag

Tip: Some shapes such as Containers and Venn diagram circles do not allow text entry by double-clicking. To add ideas to these shapes, use a text box or a sticky note.

Add text to a line

Double-click a line to create a text box and start typing.

add

You can move the text along the line, or directly above, below, or to the side of the line by clicking and dragging the text into position.

click

Add text to an image

Add a text box to the canvas and drag it over the image. If the image covers up the text, right-click the image, hover your cursor over Arrange and select Send to Back.

add

You can also group a text box to an image by selecting both objects, right-clicking, and selecting Group.

group

Edit and format text

Select text

Click once on a text box or shape containing text to select it.
Double-click an object containing text to select all of the text within the object and enter text editing mode.
Click once on the object to un-select the text and remain in text editing mode.

Set style and format

Customize the appearance of text in a diagram from the Formatting bar at the top of the workspace. From here you can:

Change font
Increase and decrease font size
Bold, Italicize, and Underline text
Change text color
- From the bottom of the text color menu, you can select a preset theme style that affects text color, line color, and shape fill color.
Adjust text alignment
Access Text options menu

From the Text options menu, you can:

Add Strike through text
Convert text to Subscript
Convert text to Superscript
Rotate text 90˚ counter-clockwise
Add new text or convert existing lines of text to bullet points or numbered lists
Adjust the amount of space between each line of text
Adjust text padding
Adjust left, right, before, and after indent

You can also surround your text with the following symbols to use formatting shortcuts:

*bold*
_italics_
~strikethrough~
`monospace font`

Tip: To set a default text format, click anywhere on the canvas to deselect all objects before changing the formatting options listed above. Alternatively, you can Apply preset themes to style shapes in Lucidchart and set a default text color.

Add shadow to text

Select text on the canvas.
Click the Shape Options icon.
Select Shadow.
Toggle on “Shadow”.

Note: You can adjust shadow distance, blur, color, and angle from this window.

Add color to a text block

Select a text block on the canvas.
Click the Line color icon or the Fill color from the Formatting bar at the top of the workspace.
Select a color.

Use the Line style and Line width options in the Formatting bar at the top of the workspace to change the look of the border.

Note: You can only add line and background color to a text block, not a text box.

Add text as a code block

There are two ways to add text as a code block:

Paste text that is already structured as code, and it will automatically paste onto the canvas as a code block.
Click the Code block icon in the Primary Toolbar and drag the code block onto the canvas.

Add more lines of text

Create new lines of text using these keyboard shortcuts.

Add line breaks: Press “Enter” to add a break between lines of text within a text box or Command/Ctrl + Enter to add a break between lines of text within a shape.
Add a new bullet: Press Command/Ctrl + Enter to add a new bulleted line.
End a bulleted list: Press Shift + Enter to start a new line of text without a bullet.

Add and upload fonts

Lucidchart offers many additional fonts to the ones that initially appear in the drop-down menu of the Formatting bar at the top of the workspace.

Add fonts

Select an object containing text.
Click the font drop-down menu.
Select Manage fonts at the bottom of the menu to open the font manager.
Toggle on fonts you want to add.
Click Done to add the selected fonts to the font drop-down menu.

Upload fonts

You can upload your own fonts as TTC, TTF, or OTF files. Once you are in the font manager, you can upload fonts by following these steps:

Click Upload font in the bottom left.
Select a font file from your computer.

You can also drag and drop one or more font files onto the font list.
Click Upload to add the fonts to the font drop-down menu.

Note: Fonts used in your diagrams are automatically shared with your collaborators.

Use brand fonts

If you are a Team or Enterprise account admin, upload brand fonts that are available to your entire account. For instructions, check out our Lucid admin panel: Security settings article.

Text editing options

Lucidchart’s text editing options can help you maintain accuracy and consistency with your diagram’s written content. To access text editing options, select Edit from the menu bar and scroll to the bottom of the menu.

text

From this menu you can:

Enable Spell Check
- This option underlines any misspelled or unrecognized words in red.

Change Spell Check Language

- Select this option and choose a language from the drop-down menu to change the spell check language of your document.
Use Find & Replace
- Select this option or press command/Ctrl + F to pull up the Find & Replace window. Type the string that you want to replace in the “Find” text box and the replacement string in the “Replace with” text box, then click Replace or Replace all.

Troubleshoot text issues

If you're experiencing issues with text, check out our Troubleshooting: Text article.

Resources

To learn more about this feature, explore the additional resources below. These resources are available in English only.

Community post

How to add accent marks in Lucid

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