I can't figure out how to underline text in Flash. I see the option to
make text bold and italicized, but not underlined.

I'm getting by placing lines under the words I want underlined, but
this is quite an inconvenience since every time I edit the text the
lines need to be repositioned.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Patrice

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Request for Question Clarification by crabcakes-ga on 17 Apr 2005 10:17 PDT

Hi Patrice29,

  Which version of Flash are you using? Which operating system are you using?

Thank you, Crabcakea

Hi Patrice29,

    I hope your Flash text is in Spanish?  :-)

Just kidding. On the web, underlined text indicates a hyperlink to
most folks these days, which may be why Macromedia didn?t include an
underline button on the text toolbar. However, it does seem like it
MAY be a technical limitation of the program. (I feel the same way
about MS Excel not including the ?subtract? formula in it?s long menu
of formulas. Excel CAN subtract, but you must enter the formula
manually)

I?ve found some workarounds for you here. The first one applies to
Flash 5. I quickly tried to copy this action on my Flash MX but it
didn?t work for me. Following are other suggestions that work on all
versions.

Macromedia illustrates how to use HTML to underline text in Flash on
this site. This is for Flash 5.
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?event=view&id=KC.tn_14808&extid=tn_14808&dialogID=6689323&iterationID=1&sessionID=9630cf349eb04a7261a3&stateID=0%200%206693497&mode=simple

ActionScript has suggestions too.
http://actionscript-toolbox.com/flashmx_createtext.php

A very useful site for finding tutorials is Flashkit.
http://www.flashkit.com/index.shtml


You say ?I'm getting by placing lines under the words I want
underlined, but this is quite an inconvenience since every time I edit
the text the lines need to be repositioned.?

If you are moving the letters individually, you can group an underline
and a letter, save it as a new symbol, and save it to the library. In
this way, the underline will always be in alignment with the letter
throughout the action. Do the same with a whole string of text if need
be.
http://livedocs.macromedia.com/flash/mx2004/main_7_2/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=Flash_MX_2004&file=00000172.html

http://lsrhs.net/departments/FATA/media_arts/flash/lessons/lesson_pages/lesson_3a.shtml

Flash is not the only program that does not have a simple way to
underline text. Adobe Illustrator also left out the ?underline
button?. The following article gives us clues as to why ? the program
may have technical limitations, causing difficulties rendering the
underlines. This site also gave a very valuable suggestion. Create
your underline text in another program, such as Paint Shop Pro or
Photoshop, and importing the ?object? to be used in Flash. This should
work as well as the suggestion to save each underlined letter as a
symbol in Flash.
http://www.stopdesign.com/log/2004/05/19/underline.html

Hope this helps you out! 

Sinceramente, Crabcakes

Thanks crabcakes,
I didn't know you were also a computer wiz.
Of course this isn't the answer I was hoping for, but I suspect that's
not your fault. This problem has made me want to get some training for
cursing in spanish.

It's a good observation that underlined text typically means 'link'. I
hadn't thought of that. Also thanks for the heads up about the
flashkit.com forumn.

Patrice

Thank you for the stars Patrice. I do enjoy playing with Flash!

Regards, Crabcakes