Filler text is text that is used to fill up a space in a document. Although sometimes referred to as “placeholder text”, strictly speaking placeholder text is text inserted into forms to show people what they need to enter. For example:
Sign-up form, by Terry Freedman. The text inside the boxes is known as placeholder text, or labels.
Why might you want filler text?
Usually the reason would be to see what a document or website will look like using a particular template or style. For example, if you produce the school’s newsletter, or a departmental newsletter, or a newsletter for parents, filler text will enable you to quickly test a new template without worrying about the actual content.
Creating filler text
You can, of course, create text for use as filler text, or recycle an existing document. A better approach, because it’s faster, is to use a random text generator. The remainder of this document looks at a few options available to you.
Using Microsoft Word to generate filler text
Word has three built-in random text generators. They are as follows, but without the * at the end:
=rand()*
=rand.old()*
=lorem()*
I had to put the * at the end in order to show you the formulas, because this is what you will see when you type the formula and press enter:
=rand()* (Don’t include the asterisk)
Video provides a powerful way to help you prove your point. When you click Online Video, you can paste in the embed code for the video you want to add. You can also type a keyword to search online for the video that best fits your document.
To make your document look professionally produced, Word provides header, footer, cover page and text box designs that complement each other. For example, you can add a matching cover page, header and sidebar. Click Insert, then choose the elements you want from the different galleries.
Themes and styles also help to keep your document coordinated. When you click Design and choose a new Theme, the pictures, charts and SmartArt graphics change to match your new theme. When you apply styles, your headings change to match the new theme.
Save time in Word with new buttons that show up where you need them. To change the way a picture fits in your document, click it and a button for layout options appears next to it. When you work on a table, click where you want to add a row or a column, then click the plus sign.
Reading is easier, too, in the new Reading view. You can collapse parts of the document and focus on the text you want. If you need to stop reading before you reach the end, Word remembers where you finished – even on another device.
You can adjust how many paragraphs are generated, and how many sentences in each paragraph. For example, if I wish to generate four paragraphs with two sentences in each, this is the formula I use (without the asterisk):
=rand(4,2)*
Video provides a powerful way to help you prove your point. When you click Online Video, you can paste in the embed code for the video you want to add.
You can also type a keyword to search online for the video that best fits your document. To make your document look professionally produced, Word provides header, footer, cover page and text box designs that complement each other.
For example, you can add a matching cover page, header and sidebar. Click Insert, then choose the elements you want from the different galleries.
Themes and styles also help to keep your document coordinated. When you click Design and choose a new Theme, the pictures, charts and SmartArt graphics change to match your new theme.
=rand.old()* (Don’t include the asterisk)
The =rand() command used to generate different text to what it does now. If you prefer the old text, which used every letter of the alphabet, then the =rand.old() formula is the one for you:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
=rand.old(10,3)*
Again, you can specify the number of paragraphs and sentences. Using the above formula, here’s what is generated:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
=lorem()*
Finally, you can, if you prefer, generate the standard lorem text, using the formula above – again, without the asterix:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci.
Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy.
=lorem(5,2)*
And again, you can specify the number of paragraphs and sentences. Using the formula above (without the asterisk), this is what you’ll get:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa.
Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim.
Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede.
Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem.
Web-based filler text generators
If you don’t use Word, there are plenty of web-based filler text generators. Here are a few.
Lipsum.com
This is quite nice because you can specify the number of paragraphs, sentences or words, and even generate a list. The following list was created by my specifying two paragraphs:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Ut dapibus sapien et dolor varius mollis tempor a mauris.
Nam gravida augue ac euismod condimentum.
Nunc tincidunt felis ut aliquet mollis.
Nam tincidunt lacus eget ante luctus, nec rhoncus dolor tristique.
Donec finibus nisi in diam malesuada fringilla quis quis erat.
Nullam eu ex hendrerit mauris porta feugiat.
Cras euismod tellus et purus lobortis sagittis.
Integer non urna a turpis gravida ultrices.
Link: https://www.lipsum.com/
Loremipsum
This is a simpler generator to use. You can specify the number of paragraphs, sentences or words. Here is the result of generating three paragraphs:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut diam quam nulla porttitor massa id neque aliquam vestibulum. Aliquam ultrices sagittis orci a scelerisque purus. Et leo duis ut diam quam. Pharetra vel turpis nunc eget lorem dolor sed viverra ipsum. Arcu bibendum at varius vel pharetra vel turpis nunc eget. Aliquet nec ullamcorper sit amet risus. In iaculis nunc sed augue lacus viverra. Nibh cras pulvinar mattis nunc sed blandit libero volutpat. Sagittis aliquam malesuada bibendum arcu. Sed enim ut sem viverra aliquet eget sit.
Et molestie ac feugiat sed lectus vestibulum mattis. Justo donec enim diam vulputate ut pharetra sit amet aliquam. Ut ornare lectus sit amet est. Egestas integer eget aliquet nibh praesent tristique magna sit amet. Urna porttitor rhoncus dolor purus. Amet mattis vulputate enim nulla aliquet porttitor lacus luctus. Varius vel pharetra vel turpis. Aliquet enim tortor at auctor urna nunc. Tincidunt eget nullam non nisi est sit amet facilisis. Velit laoreet id donec ultrices tincidunt arcu. Aliquet nibh praesent tristique magna. A diam maecenas sed enim ut sem viverra aliquet. Tempor orci dapibus ultrices in.
Rhoncus aenean vel elit scelerisque mauris. Dictum varius duis at consectetur. Diam sollicitudin tempor id eu nisl. In fermentum et sollicitudin ac. Ut consequat semper viverra nam libero. In aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt. Sit amet justo donec enim diam vulputate ut. Et tortor at risus viverra adipiscing at in tellus integer. Commodo nulla facilisi nullam vehicula. Tempor id eu nisl nunc mi ipsum faucibus vitae. Rutrum quisque non tellus orci ac auctor augue. Nunc faucibus a pellentesque sit amet. Nulla facilisi morbi tempus iaculis urna id. Quam lacus suspendisse faucibus interdum posuere lorem. Phasellus faucibus scelerisque eleifend donec pretium. Malesuada fames ac turpis egestas integer eget aliquet nibh praesent. Euismod lacinia at quis risus sed vulputate odio. Elit pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et. Fermentum et sollicitudin ac orci phasellus egestas. Ipsum faucibus vitae aliquet nec.
It has a Copy button, but it also copies the formatting. That means you have to “unformat it” before it’s usable, which is a bit of a pain.
Link: https://loremipsum.io/
Javascript dummy text generator
If you wish, you can install some code in your website to generate dummy text. If that’s of interest to you, look here:
Link: http://dummytext.com/
Other generators
There are other, rather silly, random text generators on the web. There are some here: https://loremipsum.io/ultimate-list-of-lorem-ipsum-generators/ However, I shouldn’t recommend using them. They are either silly, political or, in one case, extremely unfortunate in that it uses words that are likely to cause offence.
But don’t be disappointed: I have listed more than enough options in this article for you to be getting on with!