Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Controlling the Italic Text Attribute.

Controlling the Italic Text Attribute

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 4, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word allows a rich set of formatting attributes for text in a document. You can control the italic attribute in your macros by setting the value of the italic property. The syntax if you are using VBA is as follows:

Selection.Font.Italic = toggle

where toggle is either False (turns off the italic attribute) or True (turns on the italic attribute).

If you omit a toggle value, the statement will simply change the current setting of the italic attribute—italic text becomes non-italic and vice-versa.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (730) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Controlling the Italic Text Attribute.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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