Textarea

Enables users to add longer text to a form.

GuidelinesReact

When to use

  • To collect longer answers from users.
  • To gather detailed information with guidance on what to enter.

When not to use

  • For short and simple user input—use an input field.
  • For longer responses that users can upload—use an input file.

Component status

Figma

React

iOS

Android

Planned
Released
N/A
Released

Content structure

Label: provides a clear description of what users should fill in; placeholder: provides additional help for expected value; rows: optionally defines textarea height.

Content

Use labels

Labels serve to clearly present what’s expected. They’re especially important for people who don’t see other visual cues. But they also help everyone know exactly what to enter.

For the label, use short descriptive phrases, ideally nouns that make the request clear. See our patterns for form labels for some examples.

Use error and help messages

For more complicated fields, sometimes labels aren’t enough. You want to include any necessary information as clear as possible to help users complete the fields.

Use help messages to guide users before they enter anything and clear calm error messages when there’s a problem with what they entered.

Remember that such messages are likely to invoke negative feelings, so be positive and focused on solutions to any problems.

Error and Help messages

Include placeholder examples

When you have additional information or helpful examples, include placeholder text to help users along.

Remember that placeholder text is visually less important, low in contrast, and disappears once users enter anything. So do not include anything necessary to complete the field.

Look & feel

Background color and borders

See why background and borders for fields differ between app and website versions.