Add Text to Image

Text on Images Without Photoshop

Adding a caption, label, copyright notice, event date or call-to-action to a photo normally means opening a design application, creating a text layer, adjusting the font, and exporting. The ToollyX Add Text to Image tool skips all of that. Upload your image, type your text, adjust the font, size, colour, position and opacity, and download the result in seconds. The entire operation runs in your browser using Canvas API text rendering - nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Font, Size, Style and Colour Controls

Text renders at a size proportional to the image width - the size slider sets a per-mille value so text scales correctly across images at different resolutions. At 68 on a 4000px wide image, text renders at roughly 272px - large and visible. On a 1200px image at the same setting, it renders at about 82px. Seven font families cover the main style categories: DM Sans for clean modern UI text, Georgia for editorial serif, Impact for bold headline-style text, Courier New for monospace code or technical labels. Bold, italic and shadow style toggles add weight and depth. The colour picker accepts any hex colour, and six quick presets cover white, black and common accent colours. Opacity sets the global transparency of the text element - useful for subtle watermarks or legal text that should not compete with the main image content.

Nine Position Presets and Padding

The nine-button position grid covers all corners, edge midpoints and centre. Bottom-right is the conventional position for watermarks and copyright notices. Top-left works well for event dates or location labels. Centre is used for overlay text on call-to-action graphics and social media images. The padding slider controls the distance from the nearest edge in pixels - increasing it prevents text from sitting too close to the image boundary on high-resolution exports. For social media text overlays, 30-50px of padding creates comfortable breathing room.

Text Background Box

Enabling the text background adds a filled rectangle behind the text - useful when the text colour has insufficient contrast against a complex or busy image background. A dark semi-transparent background behind white text is legible over almost any image. A white background behind dark text creates a label or caption box appearance. The background colour and opacity are independent of the text colour, so you can layer a 60% opacity dark box with 100% opacity white text for maximum readability over photographic backgrounds.

Output Format and Quality

The tool outputs in Auto (match source format), JPG, PNG or WebP. PNG preserves transparency if the source image had a transparent background - useful for adding text to logos or icons. JPG produces the smallest files for photographic sources. WebP gives the best combination of file size and quality for web use. The quality slider applies to JPG and WebP output. After adding text, if you need the image at specific pixel dimensions, run it through the Image Resizer. For adding a logo or image overlay rather than text, use the Watermark tool instead.

Common Use Cases for Text on Images

Social media graphics: Adding event details, quotes or promotional text to a photo for Instagram Stories or LinkedIn posts. Copyright and watermarking: Adding a copyright line or studio name to photography before sharing online - use low opacity (20-40%) for a subtle mark that does not distract from the image. Product labels: Adding a product name or price to a product photo for a catalogue, price list or marketplace listing. Before/after labels: Adding "Before" and "After" labels to comparison images for fitness, home improvement or repair documentation. Presentation slides: Adding a caption or source attribution to a photo before inserting it into a slide deck.

✓Verified by ToollyX Team · Last updated June 2026