Double Underline a Grand Total

August 25, 2023 - by Bill Jelen

Problem: My boss is a CPA. He says I should double underline the grand total in a report. The Home tab of the ribbon offers a single underline icon. How can I add a double underline?

Strategy: You select the grand total cell and, instead of clicking the Underline icon, you click the dropdown arrow next to the Underline icon. Then you choose Double Underline.

The Underline drop-down menu in the ribbon only offers two choices: Underline and Double Underline. — Figure 1287. The dropdown leads to double underline.

Alternate Strategy: You can also press Ctrl+1 to access the Format Cells dialog. On the Font tab, from the Underline dropdown you can select Single Accounting or Double Accounting.

In the Format Cells dialog box, there are five choices for Underlines: None, Single, Double, Single Accounting and Double Accounting. — Figure 1288. More underline choices.

Gotcha: When you choose Double Underline from the Home tab’s Underline dropdown, the Underline icon changes to a Double Underline icon. To apply a single underline, you then have to use the dropdown next to the Double Underline icon. If you want one-click access to either the single or double underline, there are three Quick Access Toolbar icons. Underline, Double Underline, and Underline Gallery.

There is a Double Underline icon you can add to the Quick Access Toolbar. There is also a drop-down where you can choose Underline or Double Underline. — Figure 1289. Add the double underline icon to the QAT.

What is the difference between underlines and accounting underlines? For text, an accounting underline extends most of the way across the cell, while a regular underline includes only the characters in the cell.

For numbers, the single underline is under the characters. The double underline extends almost to the edge of the cell.

A regular underline only underlines the characters in a cell. The Accounting Underline stretches 90% of the way across the cell. — Figure 1290. Regular and accounting underlines.

The big difference with the accounting underlines shows up when you use any of the (Indent) choices. To try it, go to Format Cells, Alignment. Choose Right (Indent), Left (Indent), or Distributed (Indent) from the Horizontal Alignment dropdown. Increase the Indent spin button.

Format Cells, Alignment. For Horizontal Alignment, choose Distributed (Indent) — Figure 1291. Choose (Indent)

The accounting underline will extend beyond the numbers.

Numbers with a Distributed Indent of 2 have their right sides aligned, but they appear more in the center of the cell. — Figure 1292. Underlines extend beyond numbers with accounting style.

This article is an excerpt from Power Excel With MrExcel

Title photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash