@STS, well I have gone all the way back to Xara Xtreme v5.1 and all state the following or similar:
Repelling text objects

You can make any object in Xara Xtreme 5 repel text so that text underneath it automatically flows around the object, instead of appearing underneath it. This makes it easy to lay out pages containing long passages of text combined with photos and graphics. Once you've set them to repel, you can adjust the positions of your graphics and photos and the text will automatically adjust and reflow around them.

Making an object repel
To make an object repel text, select the "Repel text under..." option in the Arrange menu to bring up the repelling properties dialog. Or right click on the object and select the same option in the right-click menu.
If desired, set a repel margin for the object. This determines the size of the margin between the edges of the object and the text that it repels. To close the dialog and turn on the repel text option click on "Repel".
To turn off repelling simply bring up the repelling properties dialog for the object and click on "Don't repel". Note that repelling text objects only repel text that is underneath the objects, not any text that is on top.
Note that single lines of text do not respond to repelling objects, only text areas and text columns do.
Note that you cannot make an object both repelling and anchored. If you apply both to an object, anchoring takes priority and the repelling attribute of the object is ignored (it will not repel).
Acorn