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November 25

How to print characters that overlap each other in Microsoft Word

I am using Microsoft Word for Office 365 (Word 2016). Is there a way to print two (or more) characters that overlap each other in Microsoft Word? For example, let's say that I want the number "8" and I want a slash/virgule to go "through" the number. On a manual typewriter, I would type the "8"; then hit the back-space key; and then type the "/" symbol over the "8" character. How can I do this in Microsoft Word? Also, how can I do something similar, but with an entire word? Or with a number that is several digits long? For example, I type a word that is several characters long (let's say, "purple"); or a number like "74,291"; and I want an (extended) slash/virgule to go through the entire word "purple" or the entire number "74,291". For me, this is to indicate "crossing out" or "cancelling out". Also, I am aware of the strikethrough symbol and how to use it in Word. (This is an example of how the strikethrough symbol appears: Today is ~~Wednesday,~~ Sunday, November 25, 2018.) But, I want the "crossing out" or "cancelling out" to be with a slash/virgule, and not with a hyphen or dash. Also: if the word is, say, "purple", I want one (long/big/extended) slash/virgule to cross out the entire length of the word. I don't want six separate slashes/virgules to cross out each of the six letters, one by one. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 15:58, 25 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I achieve this sort of effect using unfilled, unbordered text boxes, but someone else might have a more elegant solution. Dbfirs 18:42, 25 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Select the text, hit Ctrl+D go to Advanced > Spacing: Condensed and adjust the "pt" value until you like the result. 93.136.19.110 (talk) 23:57, 25 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. So, I tried that. The only thing that happened was that it "shrunk" the selected text to a smaller size. I am not sure how this is related to my above question? Did I do something wrong? Let me know. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:15, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Did you type "8/", select it and use this option? It shouldn't change the height of letters. You can type "8/", ad The "By:" amount in points is the space which is subtracted from the normal space between letters. If you choose a big enough number you can make the letters overlap completely. 93.136.19.110 (talk) 01:02, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

BTW I don't know if you can make this work with an entire word. I generally use this just to add unsupported diacritics. 93.136.19.110 (talk) 01:08, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

On the right is a diagonal strikeout using a text box. Dbfirs 08:49, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A diagonal strikeout requires a stroke with a slope depending on the length of the word. Characters have a fixed shape, so you can't do that by overlaying one character over another. It may be possible to create a macro that can do this (and Dbfirs above suggests there's a built-in way). I don't know much about MS Word macros, I do know that it's trivially easy in PostScript. PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:29, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

My method uses overlaying a created shape to match the length of the word. It is not an elegant solution, and not really built in to the software other than through shape creation facility. Dbfirs 12:23, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

How about the ADVANCE field code ("Offset subsequent text within a line to the left, right, up, or down")? Using 12-point Calibri, "8{ ADVANCE \l 6 }/" renders as the slash through the 8 because of the 6-point left offset. See [1] for an introduction to field-codes. DMacks (talk) 06:12, 30 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Another question about Microsoft Word

Does Microsoft Word have a feature to "break apart" or "divide" words into their correct syllables, for formatting purposes? Is this possible to do in Word? Does Word do it automatically? If not, is there a "setting" that I can set (to enable or disable the feature)? Or, with word-processors nowadays, is this no longer an acceptable way to write? Has that method become archaic, obsolete, or disfavored and avoided? Example: Say that the word is "advertisement", and it appears at the end of a line of text. It is too long to fit on that line. So, I can (manually) break the word up as "advertise-" (with a hyphen at the end) on the first line; and continue the next line with "ment". That is what I am referring to. Thanks. Also: does that process have a more "formal" name? Or is it simply called "dividing" or "breaking up" a word into its syllables? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:34, 25 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Press Alt, T, L, H (don't hold the keys, just press and release each) and you'll get a box with options. However it only works with English for me. 93.136.19.110 (talk) 00:01, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hyphenation is the term I've seen in word processors, but that Wikipedia page refers to Syllabification. 14.2.224.5 (talk) 05:09, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Read Typographic alignment. When long words are common (like in German or Finnish, somewhat less so in English), hyphenation is practically mandatory, unless you're putting your text in a very wide column (which isn't very readable). With left aligned text the right would become too ragged and with justified text the spaces too wide. If that 23-character word is just one character too long and moved to the next line, you end up with only 44 instead of your normal 66 characters on a line. Just pick any printed book in a germanic language and you'll probably see hyphenated words on almost every page. Proper typesetters try to avoid it, but especially on the first line of a paragraph that may be hard without creating excessively loose lines.

MS Word uses by default rather long lines. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:09, 26 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, I hope you know about the "soft" hyphen? —Tamfang (talk) 21:27, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]