---
title: "Text behavior | Customer's Canvas Hub"
canonical: "https://customerscanvas.com/docs/hub/designers-manual/template-editor/setup-behavior/text/"
---

# Text behavior

> This article describes text-specific behavior settings.

## Text placeholders 

Sometimes you may want text elements to behave as _placeholders_. The main difference between placeholder text and regular text items is what happens when they are blank. While a regular text item will be displayed as empty text, an empty placeholder text item will prompt the user to enter text. If the user does not fill a placeholder, this prompt won't be rendered on a print file.

This prompt will be displayed as semi-transparent. Once the user enters text, it will disappear. If they clear the content of the text element, they will see the prompt again.

![Entering text in placeholder.](images/text-placeholder.gif)

Text placeholder behavior can be applied to both point and area text. You can do so as follows:

1. Select a text element.
2. On the **Behavior** tab, in the **Name and title** group, enable **Placeholder text**. 
3. Edit the prompt in the text field below.

![Text placeholder](images/text-placeholder.png)

:::note
Text placeholders are typically used for variable elements. See the [Variables](https://customerscanvas.com/docs/hub/designers-manual/template-editor/setup-behavior/variables.md) article to learn how to set up variables.
:::

## Copyfitting 

When you create area text and let the user edit this element, they may type in a string that is too long to fit this area's bounds. By default, when the content does not fit the text element bounds, the part of the text that goes out of the text frame is clipped. However, you can change this behavior.  

1. Select one or more area text elements.
2. On the **Behavior** tab, in the **Copyfitting** group, define the **Overflow strategy** and **Shrink mode**.

![Text placeholder in the editor](images/copyfitting.png)

:::warning
These settings are applicable only when a text element has bounds (i.e. _area text_). It is not available for _point text_, which always automatically expands its width, and not available for _arched text_, which always fits its bounds.
:::

### Text Overflow Strategies

-   **Clip**
    
    Crops text that goes out of the text region. This is the default behavior.
    
    ![The Clip mode.](images/copyfitting-clip-size.gif)
    
-   **ExpandBox**
    
    Expands the bottom bound of the original text area when the text goes out of this area. After that, if you erase the text, the bounding rectangle remains expanded.

    ![The Expand-Box mode.](images/copyfitting-expandbox.gif)
    
-   **FitToWidth**
    
    Downsizes text to fit the bounding rectangle's width. The text moves to a new line only when the user presses Enter. The following image illustrates how this option looks in the editor.
    
    ![The Fit-to-Width mode.](images/copyfitting-fitwidth-size.gif)
    
-   **FitToBox**
    
    Moves text to the next line when the end of the current line is reached and starts to downsize the text only when the bottom of the bounding rectangle is reached.
    
    ![The Fit-to-Box mode.](images/copyfitting-fitbox-size.gif)
    

### Shrink Modes

In addition to a strategy, you can specify in what way the editor downsizes text that goes out of its bounds. There are two options:

-   **Size**
    
    Changes the font size. This is the default shrink mode.
    
    ![The Size shrink mode.](images/copyfitting-fitwidth-size.gif)
    
-   **Scale**
    
    Disproportionally shrinks text in width:
    
    ![The horizontal shrink.](images/copyfitting-fitwidth-scale-h.png)
    
    or height:
    
    ![The vertical shrink.](images/copyfitting-fitwidth-scale-v.png)

## Text permissions

Similar to [manipulations](https://customerscanvas.com/docs/hub/designers-manual/template-editor/setup-behavior/manipulations.md), you can manage text permissions and define which properties of the text users can personalize. You can do so as follows:

1. Select one or more text elements.
2. Click the **Behavior** tab.
3. Scroll to the **General** group and click **Text**. 
4. Set up the required properties.

![Text permissions](images/text.png)

## Limits

To limit users' character input:

1. Select a text element.
2. On the **Behavior** tab, in the **Data** group, you can define the **Max characters**, **Max lines**, and **Max line charactters**.

![Text limits in Template Editor](images/text-data.png)

By default, these limits have no values, meaning users can enter any number of characters.

When you apply a limit, users will see a message in the workspace indicating how many characters or paragraphs they can still add to the element.

### Max characters

This value defines the character limit for a text string. For example, if this value is set to `5`, the following message appears when the user has entered all five characters.

![Max characters.](images/text-max.png)

### Max lines

This value defines the line limit in a text area. For example, if this value is set to `3`, the following message appears when the user has entered two of the three lines (paragraphs) in the text area.

![Max lines.](images/text-max-lines.png)

### Max line characters

This value defines the character limit per line in a text area. The limit counter resets to `0` when starting a new line. For example, if this value is set to `3`, the following message appears when the user has entered two of the three lines (paragraphs) in the text area.

![Max line characters.](images/text-max-line-characters.png)