How to Underline Text: The Ultimate Guide for Word, Discord, and Design Tools

Whether you’re writing a professional resume in Microsoft Word, collaborating on a project in Google Docs, or styling a message on Discord, knowing how to underline text is a fundamental skill. While most modern software makes this task easy, the methods vary widely across platforms.

The following comprehensive guide explores every way to add emphasis, from the classic hotkey for underlining to advanced techniques like CSS text-underline and LaTeX underline.

There are more ways to highlight text in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint than you might think. Although they all accomplish the same task, the different methods offer varying levels of control.

The underline shortcut

The fastest way to learn how to underline in Word or any other Office suite is to use a keyboard shortcut.

• For PC: Press Ctrl+U; and

• For Mac: Press Cmd+U.

Using this hotkey for underlining applies a single continuous line; press it again to remove it. Note that this shortcut only adds a standard line. For more complex styles, you will need to use the font dialog box. You can also check out our bold text or italic text generators to add extra spices to your headers.

The underline command

Another quick way to add highlighting is the Underline command on the Home tab of the Ribbon.

• How to underline text in Word: The button is a two-part icon. Clicking the U applies a standard line, while the downward arrow allows you to choose from eight different styles.

• How to underline text in Figma: If you are transitioning from Office to design, how to underline text in Figma is similar; you navigate to the Typography section in the right sidebar and select the decoration icon.

The font dialog box

For most options, use the font dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+F). This menu allows you to:

• Choose underline style: Access 8 styles in Word, 16 in PowerPoint, and 4 in Excel.

• Underline words only: In Microsoft Word, you can choose Words Only in the style dropdown to avoid underlining the spaces between words.

• Change color: In Word and PowerPoint, you can pick an underline font color that differs from your text color (e.g., black text with a blue underline).

Mobile platforms often hide formatting options behind menus.

iPhone and iPad (iOS)

Knowing how to underline text on an iPhone depends on the app you are using:

• Mail and Notes: Highlight your text, tap the selection, and choose the BIU or Aa button to find the underline option.

• Pages: Tap the paintbrush (Format) icon, then select Underline under the Style tab.

• Google Docs: Tap the underlined U or go to Format, then Text, and finally select the Underline symbol.

Android: Text underline

For Android, text underlining is easy to spot with the U icon in the toolbar. If an app (like WhatsApp or iMessage) doesn’t support native underlining, you can use the Unicode combining underline trick. This approach involves using an underline font generator to insert a special character (U+0332) after each letter to draw a line beneath it.

Digital communication often relies on Markdown or code to handle formatting.

Discord

Here’s how to underline text in Discord — simply, use double underscores.

• Syntax: Type __your text here__.

• Shortcut: On desktop, you can also use the hotkey for underline (Ctrl+U) to wrap highlighted text in underscores automatically.

Web development and design

• HTML and CSS: For a basic look, if you use HTML, to underline text, wrap words in < u > tags. However, modern web design prefers CSS text underlining with the text-decoration: underline; property. This method allows you to use text-underline-offset to adjust the distance between the line and the text.

• Google Sheets: If you use Google Sheets, to underline text, select your cells and press Ctrl+U. You can even underline specific words within a cell by double-clicking it and highlighting only the text you want to change. To ensure your cell titles follow proper grammar, try our title case converter and read our guide on “Sentence Case vs. Title Case”.

Graphic designers require more precision than a standard word processor provides.

• How to underline text in Illustrator (Adobe Illustrator): To learn how to underline text in Illustrator, follow these quick steps: Open the Character panel (Ctrl+T) and select Show Options from the fly-out menu to reveal the underline button.

• How to underline text in InDesign (Adobe InDesign): In the Character or Control panel, select Underline. For custom effects, go to Underline Options to change the weight, offset, and color of the line.

• How to underline text in Photoshop: Similar to Illustrator, knowing how to underline text in Photoshop involves going to the Character panel, where you can toggle the underline attribute on or off.

As you may know, underlining has a long history, dating back to the days of the typewriter.

The typewriter legacy

Back in the day, knowing how to underline on a typewriter was really important, as people couldn’t use bold or italics to emphasize their words. One method involves typing underscores, pressing the backspace key several times, and typing the word over them. In modern printing, underlining is often discouraged because it can make text harder to read by intersecting with letters that have tails like g, j, and p.

Academic writing

In specialized fields, you may need to use LaTeX to underline text; you do that by using the \underline{...} command. If you are citing sources, you might ask: “Do you Underline Book Titles?”. FYI: Modern standards usually prefer italics for long works.

We hope that with this guide, knowing how to underline text in Figma or Word is no secret for you anymore. Remember that whether you’re using HTML to underline text in a report or Google Sheets to underline text for a presentation, the important thing is to stay consistent with your underlining throughout your content. Avoid underlining text that could be mistaken for a hyperlink, and use this technique sparingly so that your most important words get the attention they deserve.