# Is there a way to overline a character in MS Word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512 "2004-03-31T13:10:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/1 "2004-03-31T13:10:02Z")
As an example, the average value for a data set is often denoted with a bar over the “x” character. I checked the Character Map and couldn’t find an x-bar character. Is there a way to overline a character? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/2 "2004-03-31T13:25:06Z")
try using the equation editor. (Insert-\>object-\>MS Equation) ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/3 "2004-03-31T13:42:43Z")
Yep. You’ll see a little box outline with a line over it. That’s the one. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/4 "2004-03-31T16:03:09Z")
“format font strikethrough” doesn’t do what you want? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/5 "2004-03-31T17:33:55Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > “format font strikethrough” doesn’t do what you want? No. I’d like the bar to be over the character, not through it. So unless I use equation editor, there’s no way to it. Hmmm. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/6 "2004-03-31T20:25:31Z")
I’d think just drawing a line from the Drawing toolbar (Hold down Shift while drawing it to keep it straight) and moving it over the x would be easier than using Equation Editor. You could even ALT+Drag copy both the X and the line, group them, and have them available to Paste as Picture through a customized toolbar button. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/7 "2004-03-31T20:47:42Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > I’d think just drawing a line from the Drawing toolbar (Hold down Shift while drawing it to keep it straight) and moving it over the x would be easier than using Equation Editor. > > You could even ALT+Drag copy both the X and the line, group them, and have them available to Paste as Picture through a customized toolbar button. I found one under the Font “WP Math B”… It says the Character Code is 0x30, which confuses me, and I can’t seem to get it to work in here. But if you have that font installed in Word, you can find it and set up a shortcut key for it. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/8 "2004-03-31T22:18:57Z")
You can also do it in a non-app-specific Unicode way, if you want. Open the Character Map (Start | Run… | “charmap”), and select “Arial Unicode MS” as the font. Click “Advanced View”, and then select “Unicode Subrange” in the “Group by” dropdown. Select “Combining Diacritical Marks”. Type the letter you want overlined in the text box near the bottom of the main Character Map window, and then double-click on the combining overline (6th from left, top row). This should overline the letter you typed earlier. Select the text in the text box and click copy. Now paste it somewhere it won’t be overwritten so you don’t have to go through all of this all over again. I know the Equation Editor is the fastest and most convenient, but this method is guaranteed to work almost anywhere Unicode is available – if you have users who need to read this other than you, this might be a consideration. Maybe someday MS will give us an easier way to type Unicode diacritics over letters. This also lets you type all sorts of other non-English letters, like ż and š. Also, it’s kinda neat to browse all of the Unicode characters available, like “ആ”. ---
**Author:** ![larsenmtl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@larsenmtl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsenmtl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/9 "2004-03-31T22:19:34Z")
This is possible. The following applies to Word2000 but the rest should be similar–\> Knowledgebase article: [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;211642](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;211642) Basically, press CTRL+F9 and within the brackets enter: eq \o(x,-) Highlight the - | right-click and select Font… | click the Character Spacing Tab | change Position to raised 6 pt. | click OK | highlight whole equation formula | right-click | toggle field codes This is basically just entering the equation without using the equation editor. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-overline-a-character-in-ms-word/237512/10 "2004-04-01T01:23:11Z")
**Bambi Hassenpfeffer** and **larsenmtl** : Thanks! Both of your procedures worked.