Create a Text Field

The Text Fields explorer lets you create text fields you can add to custom reports and dashboards.

When you create a text field, you can specify the field’s text, fonts, borders, colors, and margins. You can also adjust these settings after you add the field to a report or dashboard. See Add a Text Field to a Header or Footer or How You Add Images and Text Fields to Dashboards.

For example, you could create a text field with your organization’s name, using your organization’s preferred fonts and colors, which you could add to your reports’ titles. Since the text fields can be edited after they're added to reports, you can also create a template text field with your customized settings and change the wording in the field as necessary.

Using the Text Fields explorer, you can edit, copy, delete, and rename text fields using right-click functionality. You can also create new text fields.

1. Click Analytics on the navigation pane and then double-click Text Fields Explorer.
2. Click New.
   A new text field opens on the content pane.
3. Enter field information.

   Text Tab

   Field	Description
   Text	Enter the text you want to display in this field. This text also serves as the text field name.
   Text Alignment	Click this drop-down list to select the horizontal alignment for the text in the text field. Options are Left, Center, and Right.
   Line Alignment	Click this drop-down list to select the vertical alignment for the text in the text field. Options are Top, Center, and Bottom.
   Anchor Style	Click this drop-down list to select the anchor style for the field. See Specify an Anchor Style for a Text Field.

4. Click the Size tab.
5. Enter field information.

   Size Tab

   Field	Description
   Best Fit	Select this option to have the size of the text field automatically adjusted to best fit the available space in the report.
   Specific Size (Pixels)	Select this option to manually enter the specific width and height settings for the text field. Any text in the field boundaries that exceeds the size of the field is clipped.

6. Click the Font tab to select the font settings for the text field. See Change Font Attributes from the Font Tab.
7. Click the Margins tab to define the amount of space surrounding the text in the text field.
8. Select the number of pixels between the text and each of the four text field margins.
9. Click the Fill tab to define the background fill colors for the text field.
10. Enter field information.

    Fill Tab

    Field	Description
    Color/Top Color/Left Color	The text description for this option varies depending on the gradient mode you select. Click this box to select a primary color as the background.
    No Fill	Select this check box to clear any fill colors previously selected. If this box is selected, the other options on the Fill tab are disabled except Color. Selecting a color automatically clears the No Fill check box, enabling the other options.
    Gradient Mode	Select the positioning of the primary and secondary colors for the background from the Gradient Mode drop-down list. Using gradient coloring lets you merge two colors. The following options are available. None—Select this option to use only the primary color as the fill color. If you select None, the Gradient Color field is disabled. Top to Bottom—Select this option to merge the colors from the top of the background to the bottom. Left to Right—Select this option to merge the colors from the left of the background to the right.
    Gradient Color/Bottom Color/Right Color	The text description for this option varies depending on the gradient mode you select. Click this box to select a secondary color to merge with the primary color. The fill colors then merge using the method defined in the Gradient Mode menu.
    Transparency (%)	Select a percentage to define how intense the fill colors are. A setting of 100% is completely transparent, which prevents the fill colors from displaying. A setting of 0% has no transparency, resulting in intense background colors. The selected percentage is immediately reflected in the Preview area, so you can easily scroll through the transparency percentages to find a value that best suits your needs.
    Preview	This area provides a sample of how the fill colors you select will appear on the text field’s background.

11. Click the Borders tab to define the borders for the text field.
12. Enter field information.

    Borders Tab

    Field	Description
    Color	Click the color box to select a color for the border.
    Style	Click this drop-down list to select one of the following border styles: Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Double, Inset, Outset, Groove, Ridge, Rounded, or Separator. The Separator option lets you add empty space around the text field.
    Weight	Click this drop-down list to select the pixel size of the border. The border weight can be from 1 to 10 pixels.
    Preview	This area defines the placement of the borders you define. Select any of the border buttons to place the borders or click the area in the Preview white space where you want the border.
    Borders	Click a border button to add the selected border attributes to the top, bottom, left, right, or all sides of the component. You can also add or remove borders from all sides of the component.

13. To preview the text field, click Preview.
14. Click Close.
15. Click Save.