Use vertical text

Keynote supports vertical text in shapes and text boxes, so you can enter and edit text from top to bottom, such as in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Each new line appears to the left of the one before it.

To use vertical text, your presentation must be formatted for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, or you must have at least one of these languages on your device’s preferred language list. To learn more, see Create a presentation with the formatting of a different language and Change a presentation’s language and formatting.

Add vertical text to a text box or shape

  1. Select a text box or shape.

  2. In the Format  sidebar, click Text, then select the checkbox next to Vertical Text.

    If the object already contains text, it becomes vertical at the right side of the object and any additional text you add is vertical. If the object didn’t already contain text, any text you add is vertical.

Fit characters horizontally in vertical text

You can fit two to four characters horizontally within vertical text. This is useful for writing a few Latin characters, such as numbers, so they can be read from left to right.

  1. While writing vertical text, select two to four characters you want to rotate.

  2. In the Text tab of the Format  sidebar, select the Advanced options button, then choose Rotate to Horizontal.

    When editing the horizontal characters, you can make all of the characters bold, italic, and so on, but you can’t edit the individual characters separately.

If you want the horizontal characters to appear vertically again, delete the characters and reenter them.

Make vertical characters full width

You can change vertical text to full-width, upright characters.

  1. Select the vertical text you want to make full width.

  2. In the Keynote menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Edit > Transformations > Make Characters Full Width.

Tips for using vertical text

Here are a few things to keep in mind about using vertical text in your presentation:

See alsoFormat Chinese, Japanese, or Korean textFormat a presentation for another language