How to Add Text to a TikTok Slideshow

Adding text to your TikTok slideshow transforms a simple series of photos into a compelling narrative, a funny meme, or an educational guide. It's one of the most effective tools in your creator toolkit for grabbing attention and keeping viewers hooked until the last slide. This guide will walk you through everything from the basic steps of adding text to advanced timing techniques that will make your content stand out.

Why Bother With Text on a Slideshow?

In a fast-scrolling world, a slideshow of static images can easily get lost in the feed. Text is the hook that provides context, tells a story, and guides your viewer’s attention. Think about the most popular slideshow formats: they often use text to reveal a punchline, list tips, share a story "part by part," or showcase a before-and-after transformation, a single slide at a time.

Here’s how text elevates a simple slideshow:

• Storytelling: Each slide and its corresponding text can be a chapter in a miniature story, building anticipation with every tap.
• Clarity and Context: A photo of your lunch is just a photo. Text that reads "Trying the viral croissant from this new cafe" immediately gives the image meaning and relevance.
• Engagement Hooks: Posing a question on the first slide ("Guess which photo my cat photobombed?") encourages viewers to watch the entire slideshow to find the answer.
• Call-to-Action (CTA): Text lets you direct your audience to do something specific, like "Check the link in my bio for the recipe!" or "Comment your favorite tip below."

Without text, you're relying entirely on a user's ability to interpret your images. With text, you take control of the narrative and give people a reason to stick around.

The Basics: Creating a Slideshow and Adding Your First Text

Before you become a text-timing master, you need a slideshow. If you've never used the photo mode on TikTok, it's incredibly straightforward. Let's start from square one.

Building Your Slideshow Foundation

1. Navigate to the TikTok creation screen by tapping the plus (+) icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the Upload button on the bottom right.
3. Select the Photos tab at the top. You can now tap on all the images you want to include in chronological order. Check the little circle at the corner of each image thumbnail.
4. Once you've selected your photos, make sure Photo mode is selected at the bottom of the screen (as opposed to Video mode). In photo mode, users can swipe through the images at their own pace. If you choose Video mode, TikTok will turn them into a video with automatic transitions that you can then edit. For this guide, let's focus on the classic "swipe-able" Photo mode.
5. Tap Next.

You now have a basic slideshow. You can swipe through your pictures on the preview screen. Now you’re ready to bring it to life with text.

Adding and Customizing Your Text

This is where the creative part begins. The editor gives you a surprising amount of control over how your text looks and feels.

1. On the editing screen (right after you hit "Next"), look at the tools on the right-hand side. Tap the Text icon, which looks like "Aa".
2. A text input box will appear. Type out what you want to say. As you type, you'll see several customization options appear:

• Fonts: Along the left, you can scroll through different font styles, from classic to cursive to bold headline fonts. Tap each one to see how it changes your text.
• Color: The colored circles at the bottom let you quickly change your text color. Swipe left to see even more options.
• Background/Highlight: The 'A' icon with a background box lets you add a solid, semi-transparent, or outlined background to your text. This is so important for making your text readable against busy photo backgrounds. Tap it multiple times to cycle through the different styles.
• Alignment: The icon with lines lets you align your text to the left, center, or right.

Once you are happy with how your text looks, tap Done. Now you can use your fingers to drag the text anywhere on the screen, pinch to resize it, and rotate it with two fingers.

Mastering Text Timing and Duration

Here’s where you can really level up your slideshows. Simply adding one block of text that stays for the entire slideshow is fine, but making text appear and disappear at specific times creates a dynamic, professional feel. You can use this to sync text to beats in your background music or make a specific point on a specific photo.

For this to work, you must be in Video mode, not Photo mode. When you first upload your photos, choose "Switch to video mode" if the photo mode is selected by default.

Setting Text Duration: The Step-by-Step

1. After you've styled your text and tapped "Done," tap on the text box you just created on your screen. A small menu will appear.
2. Select Set duration. This will open a timeline editor at the bottom of your screen.
3. You'll see a red bar representing your text clip laid over the timeline of your photo slideshow. Drag the handles on the left and right of this red bar to trim its start and end times.
4. As you drag, you'll see a preview on the screen showing you exactly which photos your text will appear over. This allows for incredibly precise timing.
5. For example, if you want text to only appear during the second picture in your sequence, you would drag the start handle to the beginning of that photo segment and the end handle to the end of it.
6. Once you're satisfied with the timing, tap the checkmark at the bottom right.

Revealing Text in Layers

To create a professional "reveal" effect, you can add multiple text boxes and set different durations for each one. This is perfect for listicles, storytelling, or creating a Q&A format.

For example, let's create a simple recipe reveal:

1. Slide 1: Add your first text box: "My Go-To 3-Ingredient Breakfast." Set its duration to only cover the first photo clip.
2. Slide 2: Add your second text box as an overlay for ingredient #1 (e.g., "1. Two Eggs"). Use the "Set duration" tool to make it appear only on the second photo showcasing the eggs.
3. Slide 3: Next is ingredient #2. Add a new text box: "2. Handful of Spinach" and time it to appear only with the third photo of spinach.
4. Slide 4: You guessed it - add a final piece of text: "3. Feta Cheese" and sync to the fourth picture.

By layering the timing this way, you guide your viewer on a journey rather than presenting them with a wall of text. Each slide adds a new piece of information, keeping them engaged and waiting for the next reveal.

Meet Your New Best Friend: Text-to-Speech

Don't forget one of TikTok's most iconic features: text-to-speech. It adds an audio component to your slideshow that improves accessibility and introduces a new layer of character.

1. Once you've added a text box and placed it, tap on it again.
2. From the menu that pops up, select Text-to-speech (it looks like a person's head with soundwaves).
3. You can then choose from a variety of voices. TikTok will read your text out loud.

Combine this with precise text timing, and you've got a powerful tool. You can have a different voice pop in for each slide, creating a "dialogue" effect that's both fun and captivating.

Pro Tips for Text That Converts and Engages

Knowing how to add text is only half the battle. Knowing what to add and how to make it effective is the true differentiator.

• Prioritize Readability: This is a non-negotiable. Use bold fonts for important points and always use the highlight or background feature on text that's over a busy background. Choose contrasting colors - light text on a dark part of an image or dark text on a light one.
• Less is More: TikTok is a fast-paced platform. Your viewers aren't there to read a novel. Keep your text short, punchy, and to the point. Express one main idea per slide.
• Mind the Safe Zones: Remember that the bottom of the screen has a caption and other icons, and the right side has buttons for liking, commenting, and sharing. Keep your important text closer to the center of the frame and away from these edges so it doesn't get awkwardly covered up.
• Match Vibe and Brand: The font, color, and casing (ALL CAPS vs. lowercase) of your text all contribute to a certain vibe. A fun, comedic slideshow might use a quirky font and bright colors. A tutorial on brand strategy might use a clean, professional sans-serif font. Stay consistent with your overall brand aesthetic.

Final Thoughts

Mastering text in your TikTok slideshows opens up a world of creative possibilities, allowing you to tell stories, educate your audience, and build a stronger connection beyond just sharing photos. From simple captions to complex, multi-layered timing, these tools are built to help your content get noticed and keep viewers watching.

Once you’ve perfected your text-driven TikTok masterpiece, the next step is getting it in front of your audience at the right time. At Postbase, we built our whole platform for the short-form video reality of today. We help you visually plan and reliably schedule all your social content, including TikToks, so you can focus on creativity without second-guessing if your posts will publish correctly and on time.