How To Underline a Character Using Dots?

[lategr8bon]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Processor: Intel Does anybody know how to place a single dot under an individual letter? To me, this seems like the equivalent of underling a character using a dot instead of a dash, if that is even helpful.
If anybody could tell me how to do this, I would be very grateful.
Thanks,
  Dave

 

[CyberTaz]

A single dot? That's virtually impossible. There are several dotted
underline options in the Format> Font dialog, but the number of dots will be
determined by the width of the character. It isn't something you can specify
or effectively control.

What is your actual intent? Are you trying to emulate a character from some
language-specific alphabet such as Ḷ or ḷ ? (These characters may not
display properly when you see this message.) if that's your intent you might
want to investigate the OS X Character Viewer which provides easy access to
just about any international character you might need. Just be prepared to
accept the fact that just because you can insert it doesn't necessarily mean
that it will be seen as intended when displayed on a different computer.

You may find some useful information here:

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/Overbar.htm

Although the article is WinWord oriented the same techniques apply in Mac
Word. You'll just have to experiment with variations to get something
acceptable... But *under* will be a nifty trick

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[lategr8bon]

Thanks, Bob.
My actual intent is rather specific. I am trying to transcribe a papyrus fragment. It seems the accepted method of indicating a damaged letter is to place a dot underneath it. It's quite common in published works, so I assume there must be a way to achieve it. If this clarifies anything, I would be very thankful for further input.
In any case, I will look into the things you suggested.
Thanks,
  Dave

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Dave,

Does anybody know how to place a single dot under an individual letter? To
me, this seems like the equivalent of underling a character using a dot
instead of a dash, if that is even helpful.

Interestingly, words in the Japanese language are often
emphasized with a single dot _above_ each character.
If you have Japanese language enabled in the Language Register,
you can access the emphasis mark functions in the Format -
Font dialog, or from the Formatting Palette.

You can also use the Format - Style - New... - Format - Borders
option to add dots underneath a paragraph, but it doesn't seems to
apply on the character level.

Jeff

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Dave;

No doubt you see it in published works & no doubt it is possible, but those
works are not composed using Word or other word processing programs -- at
least not as far as the final typeset output. More likely they're done using
software that provides more sophisticated typography support.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Yves Dhondt]

Maybe I'm not understanding your question correctly, but the suggestions
given so far seem overly complex to me. Can't you just use the "combining
dot below" (U+0323) or "combining ring below" (U+0325) diacritic?

I don't have Word 2008 around for trying at the moment, but it should be the
same as in Word 2007.

To enter this type of symbol make sure the font is set to a font that
supports it (e.g. Arial Unicode MS). Type the character you want to display,
followed by 0323. Select 0323 and press ALT+X to convert the code into the
appropriate diacritic.

Yves

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Processor: Intel Does
anybody know how to place a single dot under an individual letter? To me,
this seems like the equivalent of underling a character using a dot instead
of a dash, if that is even helpful.
If anybody could tell me how to do this, I would be very grateful.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Yves;

You're absolutely right. The combining diacritic can be used, but for
several reasons it probably wouldn't be a viable solution... For one thing,
the ALT+X method isn't supported by OS X. That's why I guided the OP to the
OS X Character Viewer which would enable the insertion.

Most significant, though, the OP's second message indicates that the doc
involved is a transcription of a papyrus fragment & the purpose is to mark a
"damaged letter". Perhaps I'm assuming incorrectly but that gives me the
impression that choice of font might well not be an option.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Yves:

Yes, that's what I was thinking, too.

The COMBINING DOT BELOW is indeed Unicode 0323, available in several of the
Mac Unicode fonts.

To insert it in OS 10.6 you simply use the Character Viewer from the top
menu, search for the character by name, and click Insert (immediately to the
right of the character you want it to combine with).

There is a blurb from Apple here on how to type Unicode characters in all
Mac operating systems:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1518

Word 2008 does not seem to support the use of the "Alt + Unicode" method (I
am convinced that it does, but I cannot find out what the keystroke is...)

Once you get the character into the document, it will appear as a
question-mark, because the font is wrong. Word should switch to the font
specified by the Character Viewer, but it doesn't: a Microsoft bug. The
Character Viewer should specify the character in Unicode, but it doesn't: an
Apple bug...

However, the Character Viewer WILL tell you which fonts the character is in.
Select the single question-mark character and change just that character to
the font the Character Viewer tells you contains the combining character you
want, and your combining character will appear, neatly combined.

(No, you can't make an AutoCorrect out of it unless you make one for the dot
combined with each character of the alphabet, which may be more trouble than
it is worth...)

Cheers

Maybe I'm not understanding your question correctly, but the suggestions
given so far seem overly complex to me. Can't you just use the "combining
dot below" (U+0323) or "combining ring below" (U+0325) diacritic?

I don't have Word 2008 around for trying at the moment, but it should be the
same as in Word 2007.

To enter this type of symbol make sure the font is set to a font that
supports it (e.g. Arial Unicode MS). Type the character you want to display,
followed by 0323. Select 0323 and press ALT+X to convert the code into the
appropriate diacritic.

Yves

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Processor: Intel Does
anybody know how to place a single dot under an individual letter? To me,
this seems like the equivalent of underling a character using a dot instead
of a dash, if that is even helpful.
If anybody could tell me how to do this, I would be very grateful.
Thanks,
Dave

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Yves Dhondt]

That might indeed be an issue, but I would be surprised that, if a dot below
is the common way to describe such a thing, the OPs font wouldn't support
this diacritic.

Also, the font used for the character shouldn't necessarely be the same as
the font used for the diacritic. Of course, if the aligment of both fonts is
different, that might result in display issues.

Yves

 

[lategr8bon]

Thanks gang. I wound up downloading a greek font that had a keystroke for the sublinear dot. Somewhat cumbersome, but it got the job done. the font was spdoric, if anybody cares.
Thanks for your input!
--Dave

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Interesting, Dave ­ thanks for the feedback on this!

Jeff