3 Ways to Type Over a Line in MS Word
- Using an underlined tab space
- Using a line tool
- Using a table cell
Method 1: Type Over a Line Using an Underlined Tab Space
Step 1: Open up a Word document.
Step 2: Use the Tab key.
Once your document is ready, move your cursor where you want to start typing over the line.
Then, press the Tab key multiple times to create ample space. Now, select the tab spaces you’ve just created.
Step 3: Use the underline tool.
Once you’ve selected the tab space, go to the Home tab and click the Underline button found in the Font group.
Alternatively, you can also simply press Ctrl + U.
Notice that the Underline button provides several styles for your underline. A straight line is the standard format for forms.
Congratulations! You can now start typing over a line in MS Word.
If you want to edit the spacing around the text over the line, you can skip to the Editing and Deleting Text Over a Line in MS Word section.
Method 2: Type Over a Line Using the Line Tool
The Line tool is one of the many shape tools you can find in the Illustration group.
Step 1: Open up an MS Word document.
Step 2: Draw a line.
Now that your document is opened, go to the Insert menu and click the Shapes drop-down menu.
From there, select the Line tool found at the very first row in the selection.
Click and drag your mouse to start drawing the line.
Press the Shift key to ensure that the line stays completely straight.
Once the line is drawn, you can still resize and edit its length. Simply click the line and drag the ends to move it around.
You’ll want to place your line just slightly below the main text line.
Method 3: Type Over a Line Using a Table Cell
Step 1: Open up an MS Word file.
Step 2: Insert a table.
Go to the Insert menu and click on the Table button.
For this example, we’ll create a 4×3 table to allow six labels with corresponding lines.
You’ll want to type in the labels at this point.
Also, we’ll have to adjust the column width a bit so that we have ample space to type over the lines.
By default, the columns and the rows are equally distributed.
Step 3: Edit the cell borders.
Select the entire table by clicking the Four-Arrow icon at the top-right corner of the table.
Go to the Design tab and click the Borders drop-down menu. Now, select No Border from the options.
Click on any cell in the second column. Then, click the Borders button again and select Bottom Border. Repeat this process for the other cells.
Note that you’ll have to do this one by one for each cell, as the borders of one cell can also be the borders of another cell.
Editing and Deleting Text Over a Line in MS Word
Editing and Deleting an Underlined Tab Spaces
To edit the underlined tab space we used for method 1, simply press the Tab key to add more tabs or the Backspace key to shorten the line.
Select the whole tab space and press the Delete key to get rid of all of them at once.
Editing and Deleting the Line Shape
Click the line and drag the circles on the edge to shorten or extend the line. Otherwise, press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete the line.
In addition, you can go to the Format tab to further customize your line.
Editing and Deleting Bottom Borders
If you used the third method, simply go to the Format tab after selecting your table. Select the cells you want to edit.
Then, click the Borders button and select No Borders to delete the bottom borders of the table cells.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve found this article helpful!