WD97: Creating Special Characters with Overstrike (77829)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

This article was previously published under Q77829

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Word, you may want to use a character that is not supported by the ANSI character set or by your printer. You can create such characters by combining two characters using the overstrike capabilities of the Equation field.

MORE INFORMATION

To Use an EQ field:

To insert the field characters (braces) from the keyboard, press CTRL+F9.

The field {eq \o(o,-)} produces an "o" with a line through it.
   This part of the field  Does this
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   eq                      Tells Word it is an equation field

   \o                      Is the code for overstrike

   (o,-)                   Tells Word to overstrike the "o" with the "-"
				
You must apply formatting to the '-' character to raise it above the "o". To do this, follow these steps:

  1. On the Format menu, click Font.
  2. Click the Character Spacing tab.
  3. Click the Position drop-down and select Raised.
You can also use horizontal lines of different sizes and vertical positions to supplement the dash and underline characters found on the keyboard. Other line styles include the Times Roman characters 150 (em dash) and 151 (en dash) and the Symbol characters 45 (similar to a keyboard dash, but longer) and 190. The em and en dashes are also available in most standard fonts. The Symbol character 190 is the longest available horizontal line character.

Another Example--European "S" with a Superscript Dash (-)

Use the following eq field to create this character:
   {eq S\d\ba5()\s\up8(-)}
				
This example takes the uppercase "S" character, moves the (-) character back by 5 points, and then moves it up 8 points.

NOTE: If the overstrike characters do not appear as expected, you may have a country other than the United States selected in the International dialog box. To change the country configuration, click the Control Panel icon in Explorer or Program Manager, click the International icon, and select United States under Country. The overstrike characters should be positioned correctly.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/7/2001
Keywords:kbinfo kbprint kbualink97 KB77829