Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Engraving Text.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 11, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021
If you've been a Word user for years and years (okay, for decades and decades), you may remember that you used to be able to "engrave" or "emboss" text, just as you can apply italic or bold to the text. Word removed this type of formatting in Word 2010, but there is a very simple way to get it back: Just save the document in the old DOC format.
When you engrave text, it appears to be sunken into the page, with shadowing at the edges. Engraved text is the opposite of embossed text. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. Regular, engraved, and embossed text.
Once you've saved your document in the DOC format, you can then follow these steps:
Figure 2. The Font tab of the Font dialog box.
You can also play with different font colors and background colors to make the engraved text appear different.
If you don't see the Engrave or Emboss check boxes in your Font dialog box (steps 4 and 5), then it simply means you didn't first save your document in the DOC format.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7793) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Engraving Text.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here:
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