Home arrow How-To Guides arrow X-Bar in MS Office
Insert an X-bar as an 'object' in Microsoft Office

The following instructions will show you how to include an X-bar symbol in your Microsoft Office document. This method requires the installation of Microsoft Equation Editor, a component of Microsoft Office. Instructions for installing the Equation Editor can be found here .

This is a preferred method compared to inserting an X-bar using Field Codes 

  1. In the Microsoft Office program of your choice, click "Insert" on the menu bar and then click "Object" from the drop-down menu.

  2. Scroll through the list of Object Types until you find "Microsoft Equation 3.0". Select this and then click "OK". This will open the "Equation" toolbar. If you do not see "Microsoft Equation 3.0, then you do not have it installed.
     
    Microsoft Office object window

  3. Type the letter "X" if you want population mean, or "x" if you want sample mean. Then select the X as if you were going to change the font.
     
    Microsoft Office equation editor

  4. In the Equation Menu Bar, click on the button for Embellishments, and select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu. (See image below.)

    Equation Editor Embelilshments list
    You want the 4th item in the first column - the one with the overbar.

  5. Click somewhere else in your document window to close the Equation Editor and return to the normal mode.

  6. I have noticed the following behaviors for the MS Equation 3.0 object:
     
    • In Word, this object stays inline with the text, so if you add or remove text, the object shifts around as if it were a part of the text.

    • In Excel, the object needs additional tweaking to fit within the cells.

    • In Powerpoint, the object is inserted as a separate object in relation to the text, rather than being bound to a text box. This means that you'll have to adjust its position independently, and if you're trying to show an X-bar in the content of a sentence, you'll have to play with spaces and object order to get it to display correctly.

The final product will look something like this.

You can make your life easier by setting X-Bar as an auto-correct option in Word. Instructions are available here.

 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]