This is required when, for example, the final text is not yet available. Dummy text is also known as 'fill text'. It is said that song composers of the past used dummy texts as lyrics when writing melodies in order to have a 'ready-made' text to sing with the melody. Dummy texts have been in use by typesetters since the 16th century.

According to most sources, Lorum Ipsum can be traced back to a text composed by Cicero in 45 BC. Allegedly, a Latin scholar established the origin of the text by compiling all the instances of the unusual word 'consectetur' he could find and eventually recognized it as a passage from 'De finibus bonorum et malorum' (On the extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, a book that was very popular in the Middle Ages: "Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit, amet, consectetur, adipisci velit... " (Approximately: "Nor is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain..."). A typical Lorem Ipsum text goes like this: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim ...".