Putting a Bar Over a Letter in Google Docs
By Allen Bethea
There are times when even the 100 or so keys on a typical U.S. computer keyboard are not nearly enough to do the job. For instance, if a Google Drive document you are working on needs a bar symbol placed over a word or a single letter, there is no way to do it with a standard keyboard. Fortunately, Google Drive's document application supports a LaTex typesetting system command, "\overbar," that enables you to add a bar over any character or sequence of characters in your document.
Step 1
Log into your Google Drive account and create a new word processor document.
Step 2
Click the "Insert" menu, then click the "Equation" menu option.
Step 3
Type "\overline" in the equation box that appears in your document. Press the space bar, then type the letter or string of letters over which you want the bar to appear. Click anywhere outside the box when you are done so that you may continue typing text without the overhead bar.
References
Tips
- Some barred characters are available in the "Special characters" option of the "Insert" menu. For instance, the "Latin" character set contains the upper and lower-case, barred versions of the letters "A," “E,” "U" and "L" that you can insert directly into your document.
Warnings
- You can't copy and paste barred letters made with the “\overbar” command from one Google document into another Google document or into a document produced by another application. You can, however, save your document as a DOCX or ODT word processing document file and reuse it using Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.
Writer Bio
Allen Bethea has written articles on programming, web design,operating systems and computer hardware since 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Science from UNC-Chapel Hill and AAS degrees in office technology, mechanical engineering/drafting and internet technology. Allen has extensive experience with desktop and system software for both Windows and Linux operating systems.