diff --git a/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.cpp b/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.cpp
index eb46263e1e..3eeebcd57e 100644
--- a/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.cpp
+++ b/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.cpp
@@ -202,9 +202,14 @@ void TaskRichAnno::setUiPrimary()
 
     ui->cpFrameColor->setColor(prefLineColor().asValue<QColor>());
     // set a default font size, use for this the preferences setting
-    MRichTextEdit mre;
+    MRichTextEdit mre;
     ui->teAnnoText->setFontPointSize(mre.getDefFontSizeNum());
-
+    // set a placeholder text to inform the user
+    // (QTextEdit has no placeholderText property in Qt4)
+    #if QT_VERSION >= 0x050200
+        ui->teAnnoText->setPlaceholderText(QString::fromLatin1("Input the annotation text directly or start the rich text editor"));
+    #else
+    #endif
 }
 
 void TaskRichAnno::enableTextUi(bool b) 
diff --git a/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.ui b/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.ui
index a16fb15da1..003fc92c2f 100644
--- a/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.ui
+++ b/src/Mod/TechDraw/Gui/TaskRichAnno.ui
@@ -108,9 +108,6 @@
           <verstretch>0</verstretch>
          </sizepolicy>
         </property>
-        <property name="placeholderText">
-         <string>Input the annotation text directly or start the rich text editor</string>
-        </property>
        </widget>
       </item>
       <item row="4" column="0">