Overlining is not available in Word. That's unfortunate, since logicians and mineralogists, along with a few others, need to be able to do this. However, Word's Drawing toolbar contains all the tools you'll need to do this manually, since you can draw directly on the screen. But to make your overlining look good, you'll have to use a few tricks. Before you begin, make sure your document is otherwise complete and ready for printing. An overline does not automatically move when you add or delete text.
Here's a way that you can approach this difficult job:
1. Click Zoom on the main toolbar and select 200% to get an enlarged view of your document.
2. If the Drawing toolbar isn't displayed, right-click the main toolbar and select Drawing from the pop-up menu.
3. Click Draw on the Drawing toolbar, then select Grid from the pop-up menu. In the Snap to Grid dialogue box, select Snap to grid to unmark the check box, then click OK. This lets you draw lines to a specific length, rather than to the fixed invisible grid locations on the page.
4. Locate the first block of text you want to overline, then click and drag to select just the text, not the spaces surrounding it. This highlighted block will help you position your line.
5. Click the Line icon on the Drawing toolbar, then <Shift>-click and drag with the crosshair pointer to draw a horizontal line along the top of the highlighted box. Combining the <Shift> key with the mouse forces the line to be drawn horizontally, even if your hand wanders. Release the mouse button when the line is the length you want.
6. Click the Line Style icon on the Drawing toolbar and choose a line width to suit your needs.
7. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for each overline.
While this may seem tedious, you'll find that it goes quite quickly once you've drawn a few lines. If you must edit the text after drawing lines, you can move the line back over the text by simply clicking on it and dragging.
- George Campbell