How set border "From text" property to 0? (Word 2002)

[Markus Ernst]

Hello

I try to add a line below a paragraph using the Borders and shading
dialog. I set a solid bottom border, apply it to the paragraph, and then
click "Options". In the border and shading options dialog, I set "From
text" to 1 pt for the bottom, and 0 pt for top, left and right.

Anyway, the bottom line will still overlap the column width a little
both at the left and at the right side. If I do the same inside a table
cell with no padding, this disappears. When I go back to the Border and
shading options, the values are reset to the default 4 pts.

Even if I apply a complete box and set "From text" to 0, there remains a
horizontal padding between the border and the text, though in this case
the "From text" values are kept. Inside a table cell, this border is cut
off at the left and the right side.

How can I make a border that does not go beyond the column?

(I tried finding Info about this searching the web, the MS knowledge
base, and also the MVP faq page, I did not find anything.)

Thanks for a hint!
Markus

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The "Distance from text" on paragraph borders applies only if there is
actually a border, so setting dimensions for Left and Right is pointless if
there is no border. You can get around this by adding white borders, but
that is really helpful only when you want to increase the distance because
you will still have the thickness of the border itself (though this can be
reduced to ¼ point, which might be negligible).

 

[Markus Ernst]

The "Distance from text" on paragraph borders applies only if there is
actually a border, so setting dimensions for Left and Right is pointless if
there is no border. You can get around this by adding white borders, but
that is really helpful only when you want to increase the distance because
you will still have the thickness of the border itself (though this can be
reduced to ¼ point, which might be negligible).

Thank you for your quick reply! I was not aware of the possibility to
set color and line weight separately. Anyway the 0 value is now
persistent, but the gap between the vertical borders and the paragraph
seems to be some kind of default.

I will work around this by putting all elements which need the line into
tables, as the cells crop the borders.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Note that a border underlines the entire paragraph width. If your text is
not justified and is narrower than the margin width, you can add indents to
make the paragraph just the width of the text.