WD: Some Characters Missing/Cutoff When Displayed on Screen

ID: Q85455

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Word for Windows NT, version 6.0
Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a

SYMPTOMS

When you view your document in Word, some characters may either be missing or the top (bottom) of some characters may be cutoff.

This problem may affect the following types of characters:

Underscores
Underlines
Characters with an ascender
Characters with a descender
International characters that contain an umlaut, acute accent, grave accent, circumflex, or tilde.
Objects that are inline with the text of your document. For example, a picture that is not inserted in a frame or text box.

NOTE: This problem does not affect printing; that is, underscores, underlines, and characters with an ascender, descender, or International characters print correctly even though they may not be displayed correctly.

CAUSE

The line spacing of your text may be set to an Exact height. When you set the line spacing to Exactly and select a measurement that is equal to or less than the height of the font, underscore and underline characters may not be displayed and characters that have an ascender, descender, or an umlaut may be cutoff. For example, if you set line spacing to Exactly 9- point for a 10-point font, underscore and underline characters may be cutoff.

NOTE: This problem may occur differently with different fonts.

WORKAROUND

Method 1: Change the Document Zoom Setting

When you change the zoom percentage, Word may allow you to view the full height of your text by using the following steps:

1. On the View menu, click Zoom.

2. Do one of the following:

   - Under Zoom To, change to a larger setting. For example, change to
     200 percent and then click OK.

     -or-

   - Under Percent (Custom in Word 2.x), change to a larger percent. For
     example, change to 120 percent.

Method 2: Change the Document View

When you change the view of your document to either Outline or Master Document (Word 6.x) view, Word will show the full height of your text. To change the view of your document, click either Outline or Master Document (Word 6.x) on the View menu.

NOTE: This problem occurs in both Normal and Page Layout view. When you view your document in either Outline or Master Document (Word 6.x) view, paragraph formatting is ignored.

Method 3: Change the Line Spacing

1. With your text selected, click Paragraph on the Format menu.

2. Do one or both of the following:

   - On the Indents and Spacing tab (Paragraph dialog box in Word 2.x),
     change the Line Spacing box to something other than Exactly. For
     example, change the Line Spacing box to Single.

     -or-

   - Change the At box to a setting slightly larger than the font point
     size you are using in your document. For example, if your font point
     size is 10-point, then change the At box to 11-point.

Method 4: Change the Font or Point Size

1. With your text selected, click Font (Character in Word 2.x) on the

   Format menu.

2. On the Font tab (Character dialog box in Word 2.x), do one or both of

   the following:

   - Change the Font box to a different font.

     -or-

   - Change the Size (Points in Word 2.x) box to a smaller size than what
     you have your line spacing set to. For example, if you have your line
     spacing set to Exactly 12 point, then change the font size (Points in
     Word 2.x) to 11 point.

MORE INFORMATION

Line spacing determines the amount of vertical space between lines of text. Word uses single line spacing by default. The line spacing you select will affect all lines of text in the selected paragraph or the paragraph that contains the insertion point.

   This option     Results in
   -----------     ----------

   Auto            Available in Word 2.x only. Word automatically adjusts
                   the line spacing for the largest point size in the line.

   Single          Line spacing for each line that accommodates the largest
                   font in that line, plus a small amount of extra space.
                   The amount of extra space varies depending on the font
                   used.

   1.5 Lines       Line spacing for each line that is one-and-one-half
                   times that of single line spacing. For example, if
                   10-point text is spaced at 1.5 lines, the line spacing
                   is approximately 15 points.

   Double          Line spacing for each line that is twice that of single
                   line spacing. For example, in double-spaced lines of
                   10-point text, the line spacing is approximately 20
                   points.

   At Least        Minimum line spacing that Word can adjust to accommodate
                   larger font sizes or graphics that would not otherwise
                   fit within the specified spacing.

   Exactly         Fixed line spacing that Word does not adjust. This
                   option makes all lines evenly spaced.

   Multiple        Available in Word 6.x. Line spacing that is increased or
                   decreased by a percentage that you specify. For example,
                   setting line spacing to a multiple of 1.2 will increase
                   the space by 20 percent, while setting line spacing to a
                   multiple of 0.8 will decrease the space by 20 percent.
                   Setting the line spacing at a multiple of 2 is
                   equivalent to setting the line spacing at Double. In the
                   At box, type or select the line spacing you want. The
                   default is three lines.

   At              The amount of line spacing you select. This option is
                   available only if you select At Least, Exactly, or
                   Multiple in the Line Spacing box.

NOTE: If a line contains a large text character, graphic, or formula, Word increases the spacing for that line. To make all lines evenly spaced, click Exactly in the Line spacing box, and then select the line spacing in the At box that is large enough to fit the largest character or graphic in the line. If characters or graphics still appear cut off, select a larger number in the At box.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide," version 2.0, pages 184-187

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q36401
   TITLE     : WD: Definitions of Typography Terms in Word for the
               Macintosh

   ARTICLE-ID: Q50987
   TITLE     : WD: Definitions of Typography Terms in Word for Windows

Additional query words: chopped cropped gone half halved cut disappeared accent French Canada Canadian accented gone missing invisible print view WordPerfect Ami Pro WordPro Uppercase Lowercase symbol grave

Keywords          : kbdisplay winword word6 winword2 kbFont macword6 word 
Version           : Macintosh: 6.0 6.0.1 6.0.1a | Windows: 2.0 2.0a 2.0a-CD 2.0b 2.0c 6.0 6.0a 6.0c
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: October 1, 1998