Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Understanding Underlines.

Understanding Underlines

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 22, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

There are several different types of underlines you can use in Word. Underlining of characters is handled from the Font dialog box, which is most easily displayed by pressing Ctrl+D. The dialog box allows you to select from a variety of underline types. The following are the major types available:

Underline Type Meaning
None Removes any underlining from the selected text
Single Adds a single underline, the entire length of the selected text
Words Only Underlines only the words (not spaces or tabs) in the selected text
Double Adds a double-line underline, the entire length of the selected text
Dots Same as Single, but uses a line of dots instead
Dashes Same as Dots, but uses dashes instead of dots

Remember that these are only the major types of underlines; there are actually many more. In fact, Word offers 18 different options of underlines. Most of these options represent variations on the Single, Dots, and Dashes options mentioned above.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11188) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Underlines.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 2 + 8?

2022-08-22 12:32:40

Ron S

Add <ALT><U> to your shortcut. That both opens the Font dialog AND displays the Underline drop down

Add 2 screen captures.
One showing the rest of the drop down list of underlines.
Other to screen capture a table in word demonstrating all of the underlines

I've done that in this example of the article
Tweak to the article: https://1drv.ms/w/s!AlV7uGd6SkRXglFaa-RTOQCpIYgK


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