How to Rotate Text in Google Slides

Written by Ivana Google Workplace / Slides

- 5 min read

Google Slides are super convenient for whenever you need to prepare a slideshow or a presentation for work. Sometimes you want to show off your slideshow creating skills and give an extra visual effect to your slides. Knowing how to rotate text in Google Slides can really make your slides pop up.

However, if you haven’t been using Google Slides that often, it may be a bit confusing where to find the text rotation option. That’s why we’ve prepared a guide where we’ll explain the process step-by-step to help you rotate text in Google Slides.

How to Rotate Text in Google Slides

TL;DR

For those of you that are looking for a quick fix for how to rotate text in Google Slides:

  1. First, select the text box. Go to the ‘Arrange’ tab, click on ‘Rotate’, and choose a rotation option from the dropdown menu.
  2. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the text box and then click on ‘Rotate’.
  3. Or you can use the ‘Rotation Handle’ to rotate the text with more rotation angles.

Below, we are going to explain the three methods for rotating text.

Method 1: Rotate text with the ‘Arrange’ tab

First, click or select the textbox that contains the text you want to rotate, then follow the steps below.

  1. Click on the ‘Arrange’ tab from the top bar menu.
  2. In the drop-down menu, go to ‘Rotate’.
  3. Select your preferred rotation option: Rotate clockwise 90° or Rotate counter-clockwise 90°.

Arrange > Rotate

Method 2: Right-click on the text box

  1. Right-click on the textbox that contains the text that you want to rotate.
  2. This will open a drop-down menu with several options. Go to ‘Rotate’.
  3. When you click on the ‘Rotate’ option, you will be able to choose if you want to rotate the text box 90 degrees clockwise or anticlockwise.

Right click > Rotate

Note: You can also use the ‘Arrange’ tab and the right-click method to flip the text horizontally and vertically. The options are found just below the rotate options.

Explore also how to wrap text in Google Slides.

Method 3: Rotate text with the ‘Rotate Handle

  1. Select the textbox that contains the text you want to rotate.
  2. You’ll see a small circular handle on the top over the upper middle point of the textbox - the ‘Rotate Handle’.
  3. Click and hold the Rotate Handle while dragging your mouse to adjust the angle of rotation.
  4. The text in the box will rotate accordingly.

Rotate handle

Bonus: Explore how to flip an image in Google Docs.

How to rotate text in a table in Google Slides?

You can’t directly rotate the text in a table in Google Slides. However, there’s a workaround you can use.

You can insert a separate text box on top of the table cell, write the text in the textbox, and then rotate the text box itself.

  1. Go to the slide with the table in which you want to insert the text box.
  2. Then, click on the ‘Insert’ tab in the top bar menu.
  3. Select the ‘Text box’ option from the drop-down menu. The cursor on your screen will change to a plus (+) sign.

Insert text box in table

  1. Now create a text box in the cell and type your text.

Text box in table

  1. After you’ve inserted the text box, rotate using one of the three methods described above.

How to write vertical text in Google Slides

To write text vertically in Google Slides, just rotate the textbox vertically clockwise or anti-clockwise and type in the text box.

  1. Insert a text box and click on it.
  2. Now, click on the three dots in the far right in the top bar menu.
  3. This will open a drop-down menu. Click on ‘Format Options’, which will open a panel on the right side of the screen.
  4. Click the expandable ‘Size & Rotation’ tab.
  5. Under the ‘Rotate’ section, enter a number in the ‘Angle’ field. For the text to be aligned vertically, input 270 degrees.

Format Options > Size & Rotation > Angle

  1. Now, anything you write in that text will also be written vertically.

You might be also interested in reading how to put images behind text in Google Slides.