What is greeking?
Updated
Greeking is a way of showing text that nobody is meant to read. The word has two meanings in design. It can mean placeholder text, such as lorem ipsum, that fills a layout before the real copy exists. It can also mean the grey bars a design app draws in place of text that is too small to show on screen.
Where the word comes from
The name comes from the English phrase "it's Greek to me", which describes something you cannot understand. Greeked text looks like writing, but it carries no meaning for the reader.
The phrase is older than design software. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (1599), Casca says "it was Greeke to me". Shakespeare did not invent it. George Gascoigne used "This geare is Greeke to me" in his play Supposes, staged in 1566. The English phrase probably comes from a medieval Latin saying, "Graecum est, non potest legi", which means "it is Greek, it cannot be read". Word historians say "probably" here, so treat the Latin link as likely but not proven.
Most greeking text is not Greek. Lorem ipsum, the best-known example, is scrambled Latin.
The two meanings of greeking
Greeking text: placeholder copy
In typography and graphic design, greeking text is filler that stands in for real copy. Other names for it are dummy text, greeked copy and greeking copy. PRINT magazine notes that designers call the practice "dummying" or "Greeking".
Designers use it to show how columns, headlines and paragraphs will look on the page. It also helps them judge a typeface, its style and its type colour, which is how dark or light a block of text looks from a distance.
The standard filler is lorem ipsum. It comes from De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, a work by Cicero written in 45 BC. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College, traced the text to sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of that book. Letraset printed lorem ipsum on its dry-transfer sheets in the 1960s. Desktop publishing software such as Aldus PageMaker later spread it to digital design. The page on what lorem ipsum means covers the text itself.
Greeking as a display setting
In software, greeking means drawing text as grey bars or lines instead of letters. Apps do this when the text is too small on screen to read. It can also make the screen redraw faster.
Wikipedia notes that WYSIWYG editors of the 1980s, such as ApplixWare and Island Graphics, replaced text with a grey bar when it was out of focus. Page-layout apps still have this feature today. Adobe's InDesign user guide describes it this way: when the display cannot show text at a small size, InDesign shows the text as a dimmed bar, and "this behavior is called greeking type".
The size limit is measured on your screen, not on the page. If you zoom out far enough, normal body text can fall below the limit and turn into bars.
Other uses of the word
The word has a few other meanings outside page design. In film and television, greeking means hiding or changing brand logos that have not been cleared for use. Authors of books and tutorials also "greek out" parts of a screenshot so readers look at the right area.
Why designers greek a layout
- The real copy is not written yet, but the layout has to move forward.
- Design and writing can happen at the same time. A magazine page can be laid out while the article is still in draft.
- Reviewers look at the layout and the type instead of reading the words.
- Filler that looks like real text shows how a font and a column will look when full.
- Templates and themes need sample content to show how pages work.
Lipsum.com gives one reason lorem ipsum works better than "content here, content here". Its letters have a more or less normal spread, so it looks like readable text in a European language.
Kinds of greeking text
| Kind | Example | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Lorem ipsum | Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. | Body text, print layouts, templates |
| Other fake Latin or random words | Words picked at random from a Latin-style word list | Text that should not repeat the same passage |
| Repeated characters | xxxx xxx xxxxx | Quick wireframes |
| Themed or funny ipsum | Pirate, hipster or coffee words in lorem ipsum style | Demos and pitches where a lighter tone fits |
| Real-language filler | Draft headlines and sample sentences written for the page | Buttons, menus, headlines and anything users will test |
| Grey bars or blocks | Lines drawn where text will go | Low-detail wireframes and zoomed-out views |
PRINT magazine also mentions old galleys from unused layouts as filler. This is risky, because an editor may read them and think they are real.
Pros and cons of greeking
Greeking has these benefits:
- Work does not stop while the copy is being written.
- Reviewers focus on spacing, type and structure.
- Mockups look full and finished.
- Filler is fast to make in any amount.
It also has these problems:
- Latin has different word lengths from English. Steven Hoober writes in UXmatters that "greeked text doesn't fit in the same way as real text", most of all in tabs, buttons and narrow columns.
- Designers cannot read Latin, so they cut it off at any point. Real copy then breaks the layout.
- The same passage repeated many times makes readers skim, so a review does not show how people will read the real page.
- Clients may think placeholder text is a mistake.
- Placeholder text can reach the live site. In April 2014, The Straits Times in Singapore printed lorem ipsum by mistake.
When real copy is better
Use real or realistic copy when the words change the design. Headlines, buttons, menu labels, error messages and form labels all fall in this group. Use it for usability tests too, because test users react to what the words say.
This approach is often called content-first design: the copy is written or reviewed before the layout is final. If you have to greek, Hoober suggests varying the text and marking placeholders clearly. He also warns against jokes in filler, because a mockup can end up in public.
How to turn display greeking on or off
If your text shows as grey bars, the app is greeking it. The steps below come from the app guides listed in the sources. Menus can differ in newer versions.
Adobe InDesign
- Choose Edit > Preferences > Display Performance on Windows, or InDesign > Preferences > Display Performance on macOS.
- In Adjust View Settings, choose the view setting you want to change. Each view setting has its own value.
- Type a size in Greek Type Below and click OK.
Set Greek Type Below to 0 to stop greeking. Text then draws at any zoom level, although it will be too small to read when you zoom far out.
QuarkXPress
- Choose Edit > Preferences on Windows, or QuarkXPress > Preferences on macOS.
- Open the Print Layout, General category.
- In the Display area, tick or clear Greek Text Below, then click OK.
These steps are from a guide for QuarkXPress 8. The menu may have moved in later versions.
How to make greeking text
- For classic lorem ipsum, use the lorem ipsum generator. Pick paragraphs, sentences or words, choose plain text, HTML paragraphs or a list, and copy the result.
- For a lighter tone, use the themed lorem ipsum generator. Type a theme such as pirate, hipster or office jargon.
- For image boxes in the same mockup, the placeholder image generator makes grey images in the size you need.
Replace the filler with real copy as soon as you have it.
Frequently asked questions
What is text greeking?
Text greeking is placeholder text, such as lorem ipsum, that fills a layout before the real copy exists. The same word also means grey bars that design apps draw in place of text too small to show on screen.
Why is it called greeking?
The name comes from the phrase "it's Greek to me", which means something you cannot understand. Greeked text looks like writing but has no meaning for the reader.
Is lorem ipsum an example of greeking?
Yes, lorem ipsum is the best-known greeking text. It is scrambled Latin from a work by Cicero, not Greek.
What is greeked copy?
Greeked copy is another name for dummy text in a layout. Designers use it to show how columns and headlines will look before the real copy is written.
Why does my text show as grey bars in InDesign?
InDesign greeks text that is too small to show at the current zoom level. Set Greek Type Below to 0 in the Display Performance preferences to draw the text at any zoom.
When should you use real copy instead of greeking?
Use real copy for headlines, buttons, menu labels and usability tests, because the words change how the design works. Greeked text does not fit tabs, buttons and narrow columns the same way real text does.
Sources
- Greeking, Wikipedia
- Adobe InDesign CC 2015 user guide, Display Performance preferences (copy of Adobe's guide)
- Gray bars over text, Adobe Community
- QuarkXPress 8 Basics: It's All Greek to Me, IconLogic
- Greeking Versus Designing with Actual Content, Steven Hoober, UXmatters
- It's All Greek to Me: A Brief History of Lorem Ipsum Text, PRINT
- Lorem Ipsum, lipsum.com
- Lorem Ipsum, loremipsum.io
- Origin of the phrase "it's Greek to me", Word Histories
- Greeking Text, A Way with Words
Sources checked on 2026-11-03.