The Text section is where an element's words go. You type them in the text editor at the top; the settings under it say how they're laid out and drawn. The settings show up once there's some text.

Text mode decides how the text fits into the element:

Text mode
Do not wrap	Each line stays one line, at the size you gave it. What doesn't fit is cut off.
Wrap when necessary	Long lines carry on underneath, like in a word processor. It's where a new element starts.
Grid	The text fills the cells of the element's grid: a | moves on to the next cell, a new line to the next row.
Shrink size when necessary	A line that's too big for the element gets smaller until it fits.
Enlarge size when possible	A line that's smaller than the element gets bigger until it fills it.
Fit size (shrink and enlarge)	Both: every line exactly fills the width.
Inward, Outward, Clock	The text goes round in a circle: Start angle says where it begins, Extension how much of the circle it uses.

In the modes that change the size, each line is sized on its own, so the lines of one text can end up at different sizes. The text needs a grid - Line size above 0, and two rows or columns - for Grid to work; without one, it's laid out as Wrap when necessary.

The other settings
Line height	The space between lines. 100% is normal; double-click the slider to go back to it.
Character spacing	The space between letters, tighter or looser. 100% is normal. Not in the modes that change the size.
Compact rows	Leaves out empty lines - useful when a line comes from your data and is sometimes blank.
Antialias	Smooths the edges of the letters. Leave it on.
Pen	The color of the text: one color, or a fade. It can come from your data.
Outline	A line round the letters: Size, whether it's drawn behind the letters, in front, or with the letters left empty, and its style and color. See Borders for the line styles.
Padding	Space between the edge of the element and the text. See Padding.

The font, the size, bold and italic, and the alignment are in the text editor. To turn a text, rotate the whole element: see Rotation.