XL: Large Text May Overlap Underlines on the Screen

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SYMPTOMS

In the versions of Microsoft Excel listed at the beginning of this article, underlines you apply to text that has no descending characters may be overlapped by the text. You can see this problem when you view the worksheet on the screen and when you view the worksheet in print preview.

NOTE: This problem does not occur when you print the worksheet. Also, this problem does not occur in Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0 and 7.0, or in Microsoft Excel 97.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when the text is larger than 32 points.

The exact point size that makes the problem apparent varies from font to font and depends on the characters you are using. Commonly used fonts and the font sizes for which the problem occurs are listed in the following table.

                     Problem occurs when character is
   Font              "5" and point size is greater than
   ----------------------------------------------------

   Geneva            32 points
   Arial             60 points
   Times New Roman   63 points

NOTE: This problem is strictly a display problem; the underlined text is printed correctly.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

If a character has a portion that extends below the base line of text, the character is said to have a "descender." For example, characters with descenders include the following lower-case letters:

   g, j, p, q, and y

Because underlines are positioned below text, characters that have descenders overlap underlines. However, characters that do not have descenders may also overlap underlines if you format the character with a large point size.

Example

To see an example of this problem, follow these steps:

1. In Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, create a new workbook.

2. In cell A1 of Sheet1, enter the following text:

         This is test 5.
   

3. Use the tools on the Formatting toolbar to apply the Geneva font and a font size of 36 to cell A1.

   Note that the underline is overlapped by the character "5."

4. Change the font size of cell A1 to 72.