How do I add a border under text?

[TechWritingTeacher]

I teach college technical writing, and for design purposes I want my students
to use Borders to underline text (rather than using the underline option on
the toolbar or in Format > Font; these underline options run the line through
the decenders of the text and do not allow customization such as line width
and spacing from the text). However, when using Borders and Shading, I cannot
find a way to add a border under just the text and not under the entire
paragraph.

Here's what I've been doing:
1. Highlight text that should have the border under it.
2. Select Format > Borders and Shading.
3. In the Preview pane, select Apply to Text from the pull-down menu.
4. In the Preview pane, click the diagram for the border under the text.

The process above creates a box around the text and not just a border under
the text.

Can anyone tell me how to create a border under just the text? Thank you.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There are two ways to do this. One is to use a paragraph border and add
indents to the paragraph so that the border just clears the sides of the
text. The other is to use an EQ \x field as described at
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/Overbar.htm