Choosing a Character Size in the Equation Editor

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 22, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


As you are creating your equation, you will need to change font sizes on certain characters and equation elements so they appear correctly in the equation. The Equation Editor provides five predefined character types (Full, Subscript, Sub-Subscript, Symbol, and Sub-Symbol) that allow you to change font sizes simply by indicating what the character or element represents. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Select the equation element or text whose size you wish to change.
  2. Pull down the Size menu.
  3. Select one of the defined sizes.

The Equation Editor allows you to define the appropriate sizes of character types. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Define from the Size menu. The Equation Editor displays the Sizes dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  2. Figure 1. The Sizes dialog box.

  3. Choose the type of character whose size you want to define. Notice that the Equation Editor changes the illustration to indicate the element you chose.
  4. Enter a size, in points.
  5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each element you want to change.
  6. Click on OK when you are finished.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (924) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. ...

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