Overline Text in Excel (3 Ways)

Excel has underline but no overline button. You can get the look with a formula that adds a line of underscores above the text, a combining overline character, or the Equation tool.

FormulaREPT and CHAR(10)
Excel 365UNICHAR(773)
Exact lookInsert → Equation

Overlined text in Excel

Method 1: Underscores above the text

=REPT("_",LEN(B3))&CHAR(10)&B3

REPT writes one underscore per character, CHAR(10) starts a new line, then the text follows. Turn on Home → Wrap Text for the result cell.

REPT and CHAR(10) formula creating overlined text

Underscores and letters aren’t always the same width, so the line can be slightly longer or shorter than the text. A monospaced font such as Consolas lines them up exactly.

Method 2: Combining overline (Excel 365)

Unicode has a combining overline (code 773) that draws a bar over the character before it. Add it after every letter:

=CONCAT(MID(B3,SEQUENCE(LEN(B3)),1)&UNICHAR(773))

The result is ordinary text, so it copies into Word or email. How it looks depends on the font; Calibri, Arial and Segoe UI show it well.

Method 3: Equation tool

  1. Go to Insert → Symbols → Equation.
  2. On the Equation tab, choose Accent → Overbar.
  3. Click the placeholder and type your text.
Insert Equation in Excel
Equation Accent menu with Overbar
Typing text into an overbar equation

This gives a perfect line but sits in a floating box, not in a cell, so formulas can’t use it.

Video

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