add a horizontal line

I am having real difficulty adding a horizontal line under some text.
Instructions say to go borders and shading and select the type, etc of
line. If I select the "text" option in the dialog box it gives me a
border around the text. I click on up down left right button on
preview part of line dialog box and does the same thing...either gives
me a border around the text or nothing.
If I pick paragraph, I can add the bottom part of the border which
acts as line but I can nnot control the size of the line (the width).
The advanced options gives me how many points it should be from the
text but again I think it is referring to the border.

The option horizontal line in the dialog box again adds a horizontal
line but I cannot move it other to center it or move it to the far
right or left.

Lyle

Highlight the text you want underlined and click on the "Underline" button
next to the Italics button in the toolbar.

Tim

"lyle" <lgoldstein27@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1180945757.626988.69730@n4g2000hsb.googlegrou ps.com...
>I am having real difficulty adding a horizontal line under some text.
> Instructions say to go borders and shading and select the type, etc of
> line. If I select the "text" option in the dialog box it gives me a
> border around the text. I click on up down left right button on
> preview part of line dialog box and does the same thing...either gives
> me a border around the text or nothing.
> If I pick paragraph, I can add the bottom part of the border which
> acts as line but I can nnot control the size of the line (the width).
> The advanced options gives me how many points it should be from the
> text but again I think it is referring to the border.
>
> The option horizontal line in the dialog box again adds a horizontal
> line but I cannot move it other to center it or move it to the far
> right or left.
>
> Lyle
>

If you are trying to underline text see Tim's post.

What you are experiencing while attempting to move the line is a "feature"
of Word's drawing program.

To enable drawing lines, boxes etc easily on Word documents, make sure that
the Drawing toolbar is turned on" Left click View then Toolbars. Move to
Drawing and if no checkmark, left click it. You will see the drawing
toolbar appear at the bottom left of the screen.

Once this is displayed, left click on the diagonal line (next to
AutoShapes). Draw the line anywhere on the screen.

Hover the cursor over the line created and when the cursor changes to a 4
headed arrow, right click and then left click Format AutoShape. A window
with 6 (depending on version of Word - only '97 is different) tabs will
appear. Click on the tab for Layout. You will see a group of pictures with
a dog and text (lines). To allow the line to float over the text you need
to click the rightmost picture (dog over lines) and Horizontal alignment
radio button should be other. Then click on Advanced button and turn off
the check for Move object with text. Click Ok once. If you want to change
the thickness of the line click the Colors and Lines tab. This will allow
the changing of all line types and thicknesses. Click OK when done.

To move the line and resize the line length to exactly where you want it:
hover the mouse over the line until the cursor turns into the 4 headed
arrow. Left click and drag the line to the desired location. You can also
hold the Alt key while dragging to give finer adjustments (let go of the
mouse button first for the exact position to stick.) For the length, left
click either end of the line (at the small circle on the end of the line
your cursor will change to a diagonal line) and drag it to the proper length
(also hold down the shift key to restrain the line to the true horizontal or
45 degree or vertical while sizing the line.)

To make even finer adjustments on the line, Zoom in on the page. You can
left click on the line and then use the keyboard's arrow keys to move one
pixel at a time. Hold the Ctrl key down while using the 4 arrow keys to
finely position the line.

If you change the text above (and sometimes below) you will have to
reposition your lines.

"lyle" <lgoldstein27@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1180945757.626988.69730@n4g2000hsb.googlegrou ps.com...
>I am having real difficulty adding a horizontal line under some text.
> Instructions say to go borders and shading and select the type, etc of
> line. If I select the "text" option in the dialog box it gives me a
> border around the text. I click on up down left right button on
> preview part of line dialog box and does the same thing...either gives
> me a border around the text or nothing.
> If I pick paragraph, I can add the bottom part of the border which
> acts as line but I can nnot control the size of the line (the width).
> The advanced options gives me how many points it should be from the
> text but again I think it is referring to the border.
>
> The option horizontal line in the dialog box again adds a horizontal
> line but I cannot move it other to center it or move it to the far
> right or left.
>
> Lyle
>