# Text Area

## Description

The Text Area field creates a basic textarea input, useful to store simple (i.e., unstyled) paragraphs of text to use in your theme.

## Screenshots

![Creating a Text Area field in ACF. ](https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Text-Area-General-Settings-1.png)

Creating a Text Area field in ACF.

![The Presentation tab controls how the field will display. ](https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Text-Area-Presentation-Settings-1.png)

The Presentation tab controls how the field will display.

![How the Text Area field appears when editing content. You can see how changes made on the Presentation tab are reflected here. ](https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Text-Area-What-Content-Editors-See-1.png)

How the Text Area field appears when editing content. You can see how changes made on the Presentation tab are reflected here.

## Changelog

- Formatting setting removed in version 5.0.0.
- Rows setting added in 4.3.5.

## Settings

- **Default Value**  
  The default value shown when creating a new post.
- **Required**  
  Found on the Validation tab, this prevents the field from accepting empty values. Defaults to off.
- **Character Limit**  
  Limits the number of characters allowed.
- **Instructions**  
  Shows instructions when submitting data.
- **Rows**  
  Sets the height of this field. Defaults to 8.
- **Placeholder Text**  
  Appears within input when no value exists.
- **New Lines**  
  Changes the way new lines are formatted. Selecting “Automatically add paragraphs” will add paragraph tags around the value. Selecting “Automatically add `<br>`” will convert any new lines to HTML line breaks. Selecting “No Formatting” will not convert
  *any* tags, and you will see any HTML displayed as normal text similar to regular content.

## Template usage

### Display value with paragraphs automatically added

This example demonstrates how to display a Text Area field named `product_description` when the “Automatically add paragraphs” setting is enabled.

```
<h3>Product Description</h3>
<?php echo wp_kses_post ( get_field('product_description') ); ?>
```

### Display value without formatting

This example demonstrates how to display a Text Area field named `product_description` when the “No Formatting” setting is enabled. In this case, we have to indicate a paragraph manually with the `<p>` tag.

```
<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p><?php echo wp_kses_post ( get_field('product_description') ); ?></p>
```