Wrap text element labels

Question

I am writing a python script for batch map production and for every map the script replaces a text label called "Company". sometimes the name is way to long and it extends onto the map and off the map.

I have not been able to find any wrap labeling info on the internet.

So far i have tried manually editing the label in the MXD but there seems to be no wrap text option

Answer 1

@Midavalo has an excellent solution. I just wanted to add one alternative if you do not want to work with rectangle text boxes. You can use the built-in textwrap module to define how you want to wrap the text based on a character count. This way you do not have to change the type of your text labels.

It is very simple code:

>>> mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument('current')
>>> txt = [elm for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "TEXT_ELEMENT")][0]
>>> s = 'This is a very long string that we want to wrap.  It looks very bad when there is overlow and it goes off of the page'
>>> import textwrap
>>> txt.text = '\r\n'.join(textwrap.wrap(s, 15))
>>> 

And the photo:

And of course you can always insert manual breaks with carriage returns: '\r\n'.

Answer 2

As Brad said in his comment above, you can add a text box that allows you to define the width and height of the box, and any text will automatically wrap inside that.

You can find "Rectangle Text" from the Text dropdown on your Drawing toolbar

Add your text box, set your frame to no border (unless of course you want a border around your text), and set the textbox to the dimensions you require. This box can be used by arcpy the same way as any other text element.

The Title and Text options from the Insert menu will just resize the text if you try to change the size of the textbox, but the Rectangle Text box allows you to set dimensions.

EDIT: This code snippet is what I used to test:

mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT")
elm = arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "TEXT_ELEMENT", "Company")[0]

if elm.name == "Company":
    elm.text = "This text is far too long for one line and could go off the edge of the page unless the text wraps within the text box!"