Understanding Format Text Box Tab In. Once you select a character or a group of characters you can apply any of the formatting commands on the Home tabs Font group AltH. Right-click on the borders of the text box and from the right-click menu select Format Text Box.
Some of the tabs on the dialog box are only. But the Message Tab does not contain the same options for formatting as the Format Text tab most notably in my case the Paragraph group. Note that you can display the classic dialog boxes by clicking the dialog launchers in the Font and Paragraph group respectively.
Start typing while the shape is still selected and your shape becomes a text box.
To show the ruler if needed click the View tab in the Ribbon. Letters numbers and punctuation marks are all printable characters and as such you can format them. From the Colors and Lines tab apply fill color change transparency of color add border line color change border line pattern etc. To apply text box styles point to a style to see what it will look like.