docs-desktop/dotnet-desktop-guide/net/winforms/controls/how-to-set-the-display-text.md

title, description, ms.date, dev_langs, helpviewer_keywords

title	description	ms.date	dev_langs	helpviewer_keywords
Set the Text displayed by a Control	Learn how to set the text displayed by a Windows Forms control. Set or return the text by using the Text property, or change the font by using the Font property.	10/26/2020	csharp vb	Windows Forms, captions Button control [Windows Forms], button text StdFont object and CommandButton caption captions [Windows Forms], Windows Forms controls Text property [Windows Forms], Windows Forms control Button control [Windows Forms], text display labels [Windows Forms], adding to CommandButton control buttons [Windows Forms], text captions [Windows Forms], setting text examples [Windows Forms], controls text [Windows Forms], Windows Forms controls controls [Windows Forms], captions forms [Windows Forms], captions

How to: Set the text displayed by a control (Windows Forms .NET)

Windows Forms controls usually display some text that's related to the primary function of the control. For example, a xref:System.Windows.Forms.Button control usually displays a caption indicating what action will be performed if the button is clicked. For all controls, you can set or return the text by using the xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Text%2A property. You can change the font by using the xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Font%2A property.

You can also set the text by using the designer.

[!INCLUDE desktop guide under construction]

Designer

1. In the Properties window in Visual Studio, set the Text property of the control to an appropriate string.

   To create an underlined shortcut key, include an ampersand (&) before the letter that will be the shortcut key.

   :::image type="content" source="media/how-to-set-the-text-displayed-by-a-windows-forms-control/properties-text.png" alt-text="Visual Studio Properties pane for .NET Windows Forms with Text property shown.":::

2. In the Properties window, select the ellipsis button (:::image type="icon" source="../media/shared/visual-studio-ellipsis-button.png" border="false":::) next to the Font property.

   :::image type="content" source="media/how-to-set-the-text-displayed-by-a-windows-forms-control/properties-font.png" alt-text="Visual Studio Properties pane for .NET Windows Forms with Font property shown.":::

   In the standard font dialog box, adjust the font with settings such as type, size, and style.

   :::image type="content" source="media/how-to-set-the-text-displayed-by-a-windows-forms-control/font-window.png" alt-text="Visual Studio Properties pane for .NET Windows Forms with Font settings window.":::

Programmatic

1. Set the xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Text%2A property to a string.

   To create an underlined access key, include an ampersand (&) before the letter that will be the access key.

2. Set the xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Font%2A property to an object of type xref:System.Drawing.Font.

   Button1.Text = "Click here to save changes"
   Button1.Font = New Font("Arial", 10, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Point)
   

   button1.Text = "Click here to save changes";
   button1.Font = new Font("Arial", 10, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Point);
   

   Note

   You can use an escape character to display a special character in user-interface elements that would normally interpret them differently, such as menu items. For example, the following line of code sets the menu item's text to read "& Now For Something Completely Different":

   MPMenuItem.Text = "&& Now For Something Completely Different"
   

   mpMenuItem.Text = "&& Now For Something Completely Different";
   

See also

• Create Access Keys for Windows Forms Controls
• xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Text%2A?displayProperty=fullName