Text is one of the most versatile elements you can use to personalize your Zazzle designs. The Design Tool provides a wide range of features to help you customize text, including adding new text, changing colors, and font styles. This guide walks you through these features step-by-step.

This is a guide for Desktop, Mobile, and Mobile App Versions.  

Common Text Actions

This section covers the foundational steps for editing and managing text to achieve your desired design.

1. Add new text – At the Design step, find the Left Toolbar and click the ‘Add Text’ button. A text input field will appear where you can type your desired text. Once you’ve entered your text, click ‘Submit’ to add it to your design.
2. Edit text content – To modify your text, double-click on the text box or click on the text box once and choose ‘Edit text’ from the menu that appears. This will open the input field where you can make your changes.
3. Reposition text – With the text selected, click and drag inside the text box to move it. Alignment guides will assist you in positioning it accurately on the canvas.
4. Duplicate text – With the text selected, use the copy and paste commands to duplicate the text.
5. Rotate text – With the text selected, drag the rotation handle beneath the box to tilt the text to your desired angle.
6. Delete text – With the text selected, press the "Delete” key or click the trash icon from the menu.

Text Styling

The Text Properties panel provides tools to adjust and style your text with precision. This appears when your text is selected. Below are step-by-step instructions for using the features, in the order they appear in the interface:

1. Changing fonts – Click the ‘Font’ button in the panel to view the list of available fonts on the left panel. Here, you can choose from different font styles. Select your preferred font, and it will update the font immediately.
2. Changing the color – Click the ‘Text color’ button in the panel. You can choose a color from the swatches provided, or use a custom color by clicking on the pen icon under the ‘Custom color’ heading.
3. Adjusting the size – To adjust the size, you can click and drag the corner handles of your text.
   1. You can also use the ‘Font size’ input box in the properties panel to adjust the text size. Larger values increase the size, while smaller values make the text smaller.

4. Justification – Use the ‘Text align’ button icons to align your text to the left, center, or right. These options help you control how your text appears relative to its text box.
5. Applying bold and italic styles – Click on ‘Bold’ to make the selected text appear darker than the surrounding text. Click on ‘Italic’ to make the selected text appear in a slanted, cursive script.
6. Grouping elements – Click on the ‘Group’ option to treat multiple text boxes as one element, allowing you to move and resize them in tandem.
7. Formatting text – Use the ‘Formatting’ button to display the options below.
   1. Align layers – Use the 5 ‘Align layers…’ buttons to move all your selected layers to the top, bottom, left, right, middle or center.
   2. Flip – Use the ‘Flip horizontally’ or ‘Flip vertically’ buttons to mirror your text along the corresponding axis, creating reversed or upside-down effects.
   3. Rotate – Use the ‘Rotate counterclockwise’ and ‘Rotate clockwise’ buttons to reorient text by 45°.

8. Applying effects – Click on the ‘Effects’ button to view a list of possible text effects on the left panel.
   1. Opacity – Use the ‘Opacity’ slider to change the transparency of your text. Move to the slider to the right for fully solid text or the left for fully transparent, almost invisible text.
   2. Tiling – Choose one of the ‘Tiling’ options and your text element will duplicate itself, forming a pattern.
   3. Shadow – Toggle the ‘Shadow’ switch to add a shadow effect to your text. Once enabled, you can further customize the shadow’s offset and angle. 
   4. Stroke – Toggle the ‘Stroke’ switch to add an outline to your text. Adjust the stroke’s thickness and color using the controls that appear when the stroke feature is enabled. This feature can also be used to make thinner fonts appear thicker for increased legibility. 
   5. Line spacing – Use the ‘Line spacing’ slider to control the distance between lines of text. This setting is especially useful for multi-line text blocks.
   6. Letter spacing – Adjust the spacing between letters using the ‘Letter spacing’ slider. Increase spacing for a more open feel, or decrease it for tighter, compact text.
   7. Curved text – Use the ‘Curvature’ slider to create curved text. Move the slider to the right for an upward curve or to the left for a downward curve. 
   8. Text orientation – Click on ‘Horizontal’ or ‘Vertical’ to present the text from left to right or top to bottom.

Locked Text Elements

Sometimes text in templates or pre-designed layouts may be locked. To edit locked text:

• Open the ‘Layers’ panel from the Left Toolbar
• Find the locked text layer (if you cannot locate this, it means the Creator has turned off customer interaction with this layer and you will need to contact them directly via chat for help), and click the Lock icon to unlock it. You can now freely edit, resize, or reposition the text.

Working with text in the Zazzle Design Tool is easy and flexible, offering endless customization options to bring your vision to life. For a comprehensive guide to the Zazzle Design Tool, click here.