Superimposing Characters

[Kashchei]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have been using Word for years and I haven't yet figured out how to do one thing with the newest version that is needed for my discipline. I need to superimpose two characters so that they are vertically aligned. The two characters are always a number on the bottom and the carat sign (^) above it (I usually make this superscript by a few points). Does anyone know how to do this with Word 2008? Thanks in advance for whatever help you can give me!

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have been using Word for years and I haven't yet figured out how to do one thing with the newest version that is needed for my discipline. I need to superimpose two characters so that they are vertically aligned. The two characters are always a number on the bottom and the carat sign (^) above it (I usually make this superscript by a few points). Does anyone know how to do this with Word 2008? Thanks in advance for whatever help you can give me!

Hi,

Did you mean "superscripting" instead of "superimposing?"

To superscript, select the ^ and then use Format > Font and click the
superscript button.

Another way is to use the keyboard shortcut
Apple+Shift+= (apple key plus shift key plus the equals sign)

Yet another is to use View > Customize menus and toolbars. On the
Commands tab drag SuperScript to any toolbar or menu.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP


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[Kashchei]

Believe it or not, I really meant what I wrote; I need to be able to superimpose two separate characters, always the carat sign over a number. In my discipline this is as necessary as the accent aigue is in French, the umlaut is in German, or the tilde is in Spanish. In all these examples, it is necessary to vertically align two normally separate characters. Can this be done in Word 2008?

 

[Elliott Roper]

Believe it or not, I really meant what I wrote; I need to be able to
superimpose two separate characters, always the carat sign over a number. In
my discipline this is as necessary as the accent aigue is in French, the
umlaut is in German, or the tilde is in Spanish. In all these examples, it is
necessary to vertically align two normally separate characters. Can this be
done in Word 2008?

There are simple ways to achieve those simple combining characters
everywhere on your Mac.
for example opt u will create an umlaut ready to have a character slid
underneath.
To see the others, use the Mac keyboard viewer tool. To set it up, use
system preferences È international È input menu. Check 'keyboard
viewer' and 'show input menu in menu bar'. Then use the new icon on the
menu bar which, if you have done sensible things in the language tab of
the same system preference will be displaying a flag which hints at
your currently selected language. Select 'show keyboard viewer' from
that menu, hold down the opt (alt) key and gaze in awe and amazement at
the highlighted characters. Those are the simple combining accents.
HŸbsche?
VeritŽ !
Ma–ana

In addition to that trick, there is another, far more complex technique
(for Word only) to superimpose any pair of characters with arbitrary
amounts of superscript and subscript.
It involves EQ fields. Normally I'd say google the group for more, but
it seems to be failing to select by group properly at the moment.
Ask again, and I'll find the relevant articles.

Ah, I see the combining carat (opt-i) won't hop over a number.
Bummer!
Try the EQ game.
Here is a starter. Make an autocorrect entry like
replace: (caret)
with: {EQ \d\ba6()}^
(formatted text)

then type 2(caret) to achieve a caret over the 2.

Setting it up is a total pain, and it is an ugly hack, and you need to
add some upward displacement to the ^. Read the help on EQ fields.
And you won't believe how ghastly and frustrating the autocorrect panel
is.

It is *so* easy in LaTeX, which is one of the reasons I abandoned Word
before it crushed me under its own bloat.

Actually, if Word ever recovers its equation editor (scuppered by lack
of VBA in 2008), you might find an alternative there.

 

[Kashchei]

Believe it or not, I really meant what I wrote; I need to be able to
superimpose two separate characters, always the carat sign over a number. In
my discipline this is as necessary as the accent aigue is in French, the
umlaut is in German, or the tilde is in Spanish. In all these examples, it is
necessary to vertically align two normally separate characters. Can this be
done in Word 2008?

There are simple ways to achieve those simple combining characters
everywhere on your Mac.
for example opt u will create an umlaut ready to have a character slid
underneath.
To see the others, use the Mac keyboard viewer tool. To set it up, use
system preferences � international � input menu. Check 'keyboard
viewer' and 'show input menu in menu bar'. Then use the new icon on the
menu bar which, if you have done sensible things in the language tab of
the same system preference will be displaying a flag which hints at
your currently selected language. Select 'show keyboard viewer' from
that menu, hold down the opt (alt) key and gaze in awe and amazement at
the highlighted characters. Those are the simple combining accents.
H�bsche?
Verit� !
Ma�ana

In addition to that trick, there is another, far more complex technique
(for Word only) to superimpose any pair of characters with arbitrary
amounts of superscript and subscript.
It involves EQ fields. Normally I'd say google the group for more, but
it seems to be failing to select by group properly at the moment.
Ask again, and I'll find the relevant articles.

Ah, I see the combining carat (opt-i) won't hop over a number.
Bummer!
Try the EQ game.
Here is a starter. Make an autocorrect entry like
replace: (caret)
with: {EQ \d\ba6()}^
(formatted text)

then type 2(caret) to achieve a caret over the 2.

Setting it up is a total pain, and it is an ugly hack, and you need to
add some upward displacement to the ^. Read the help on EQ fields.
And you won't believe how ghastly and frustrating the autocorrect panel
is.

It is *so* easy in LaTeX, which is one of the reasons I abandoned Word
before it crushed me under its own bloat.

Actually, if Word ever recovers its equation editor (scuppered by lack
of VBA in 2008), you might find an alternative there.
[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much for your reply and I apologize for the simplicity of my response: what on Earth is an EQ field? I did a search in the Word help menu and nothing came up. Sorry to need such extensive help, but since this is apparently the best solution, I need to pursue it and currently don't know how to do so. Thanks again for your help!

 

[Elliott Roper]

Thank you so much for your reply and I apologize for the simplicity of my
response: what on Earth is an EQ field? I did a search in the Word help menu
and nothing came up. Sorry to need such extensive help, but since this is apparently the best solution, I need to pursue it and currently don't know how to do so. Thanks again for your help!

A field is a string of magic characters that gets transformed into
something useful when it is interpreted by Word.
An EQ field is one that deals mostly with EQuations.

Maybe someone who has Office 2008 could offer you a search string that
works there. In 2004 "Equation Field" is a reasonable search string,
but "EQ field" worked fine for me, so your simple question has caught
me flat-footed. <grin>

Expect to take some time getting your head round fields. It is kind of
cut-down LaTeX, an excellent program for creating technical documents,
not for the faint-hearted, which I might have mentioned in a previous
post. It is reliable and predictable, unlike Word.
The field in my example
{EQ \d\ba6()}
uses the\d\ba6 to displace nothing backward (leftward) 6 points.
As a result, the ^ right after the field is tricked into appearing 6pt
to the left, hopefully over your preceding digit.

Word's equation editor might have been a help, but I hear that too is
broken in 2008.

 

[Bob Mathews]

Word's equation editor might have been a help, but I hear that
too is broken in 2008.

Actually, the Equation Editor is not broken in Office 2008. It works
quite well in both Word 2008 and PowerPoint 2008, as does MathType 6
for Macintosh. Both Equaton Editor and MathType will produce the type
of superimposed characters that Kashchei needs to produce.

(Sorry for the delayed response; I've moved twice in the last 6 weeks
and migrated to a new hard drive. Just now getting my usenet client up
& running.)

--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor