Is there a way of setting a limit on the amount of text that is typed into a text field? And a way of alterting the person that they have reached the text limit?

Yes,

If you have prior to FM 5.5

set a calculated validation to

Length(fieldname) = x

where fieldname is the current filed and x is the maximum characters.

If you have FM 5.5 then you can validate by maximum characters.

Set the options to strict. Do not allow user to override validation and display a custom message.

Will only alert if they go over the maximum characters.

Thanks, Andy. I appreciate the help.