Word provides you with the capability of changing the orientation of your text, provided that the text is within a shape, text box, or table cell. This means that you can rotate this type of text ninety degrees, in either direction, from its normal appearance.
Changing text orientation is easy. Select the shape, text box, or table cell that contains the text whose orientation you want to change. When you do so, Word should display a ribbon tab specific to whatever you selected. That ribbon tab should have a control, somewhere on it, named Text Direction. (If it is not visible on the ribbon tab, check to see if there are two special ribbon tabs for the object you selected. If so, chances are good that the Text Direction control is on the other tab.)
Click the Text Direction control, and the text in the object is rotated to a different direction. Keep clicking, and Word steps through the available orientations until you get to the one you want.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5986) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing Text Orientation.
With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen.