Dia supports the use of text as its own type of object. Text can be placed on the canvas by clicking on the text button on the toolbox. For tips on editing text, see Entering Text in the Using Objects chapter.
![[Note]](note.png)
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Note |
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Text in Dia can use almost any font available in the system. But if you plan to exchange diagrams with people using a different plattform, it would be smart to restrict yourself to a common subset. |
The text object, and several other objects, offers direct text entry in the diagram. Text can be entered by selecting the object and then typing the text. The font, size, and other formatting properties can be changed by double-clicking the object.
Here are some important tips regarding short-cut keys when entering text.
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The normal Copy / Cut / Paste keys (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V) don't work for text. They work for entire objects. Use Ctrl+Shift+X to cut and Ctrl+Shift+V to paste just the text in an object. There is no shortcut to copy just the text.
Note When you paste text into an object, the text is formatted according to the Dia object properties, not the text source.
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You cannot select a section of text inside an object with the mouse (this moves the object). You can insert characters at the current cursor position just by typing. You can delete the character to the left of the mouse using Backspace.
Note The DEL key used to delete the entire object, now it should work as expected: it either deletes the object or the text to the right of the cursor depending on the editing mode. If you delete something (text or object) by accident use Edit->Undoor Ctrl+Z if you delete an object by mistake.) To delete all of the text in an object, use the Cut (Ctrl+Shift+X).
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If you are using a non-default font or font size, one trick for productivity is to create a palette of empty objects with the desired font settings on a separate diagram. Then copy and paste these objects onto your working diagram as you need them (i.e., instead of using the Toolbox icons).