How do I change the color of Strikethrough without changing the color of the text?

Anonymous
2010-10-06T19:10:44+00:00

Hello,

I have Word 2007. I want to achieve red Strikethrough upon normal black text.

I would be grateful to know how to do this, or if, as I suspect, it is not possible, then I would also be interested to know why Microsoft has not provided this quite obviously needed function.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Robert.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-11-30T09:36:24+00:00

Crossing something out electronically is a nonsense; period. That the facility is even made available is a questionable use of resources. If you really want to strikethrough in a colour other than the text colour, you must use fields (see http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/Overbar.htm) to overlay your text with struckthrough spaces, and format the spaces in whatever colour you want.

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  1. Stefan Blom 351.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2010-12-02T10:11:47+00:00

    As far as I can tell, what you need is an EQ field where you type in text and also enter the overstrike characters repeatedly. For example:

    { EQ \o (text,————) }

    Select and format the overstrike characters in the desired color.

    Press Ctrl+F9 to insert field delimiters, { }. Type the code as shown above. Use F9 to update. Pressing Alt+F9 toggles the display of field codes.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-01T22:14:47+00:00

    The reason I want to use a red strikethrough on black text is because that is the proper way to correct a mistake on an electronic medical record. Most EMR systems have this option built in, but I am trying to show examples in a list of instructions.

    +1.

    Using it for legal drafting -- consolidating contract amendments, showing when terms were added/removed, but need previous terms to remain visible. Resorting to highlighting and underlining, which can be colored. Much worse form, but an acceptable workaround in my case.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-03-30T21:54:50+00:00

    Hello MikeBaca,

    Thank you for your response. I have found that imposing AutoShapes over text to be unreliable because depending upon what you do, (moving text, inserting text) or perhaps something else that I cannot now recall, the AutoShapes can move! They are NOT locked to the text.

    I would also like to add that both the medical and the legal profession have used different strikethrough colours.

    In the law (in the U.K.) a first amendment of a court pleading is carried out in red, with red overstrike for deleted text and red underline (underscore) for new inserted text. This is because you are not permitted to actually remove text from a pleading once submitted to the court and served on the other party.

    If the pleading later requires subsequent additional amendment, this is then termed a "Re-amendment" and then the colour goes to green. 

    (If I recall correctly, I believe the next amendment is termed a "re-re-amendment" and goes to purple.)

    I really cannot understand why Microsoft cannot provide such a simple (in non-technical terms a least) option, as colour options for strikethrough.

    Regards,

    Ray333

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-02-17T22:49:10+00:00

    The reason I want to use a red strikethrough on black text is because that is the proper way to correct a mistake on an electronic medical record. Most EMR systems have this option built in, but I am trying to show examples in a list of instructions.

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