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The purpose of this Microsoft Word Tips & Microsoft Word Help page is show you how you can restore the "fancy" (or compound) line shape capability in Word 2007 documents.

The following depicts a compound line shape drawn in using Word 2003.

1	2
3	4

For whatever reason, the developers of Word 2007 apparently didn't like that feature and tried to take it away. When you draw a line in Word 2007 and attempt those same steps you are met with a disabled style attribute box.

Note:  To insert a basic line in Word 2007, use Insert tab>Illustrations Group>Shapes>Lines. 

Fortunately, the developers were not very thorough in their attempt to execute this feature. A drawing line inserted with VBA can include style elements including a "fancy" line.

Sub InsertFancyLineWithVBA()
Dim oShp As Word.Shape
  Set oShp = ActiveDocument.Shapes.AddLine(25, 25, 100, 100)
  With oShp.Line
    .Style = msoLineThickBetweenThin
    .Weight = 6
  End With
lbl_Exit:
  Exit Sub
End Sub

The line inserted using the VBA procedure can fully formatted using the now enabled style attribute.

Note:  Lines drawn with Word 2003 and pasted in a Word 2007 document behave similarly.

Through a bit of VBA manipulation any of the three basic line shapes (basic, arrow, double arrow) drawn with the user interface in Word2007 can be converted by selecting the line and running the following macro. Lines converted in this manner can then be fully formatted using the "Format AutoShape..." style attribute.

Sub DuplicateAndReplaceLine()
'Declare variables
Dim oShp As Word.Shape
Dim bHFlip As Boolean
Dim bVFlip As Boolean
Dim oShpNew As Word.Shape
Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Long, l As Long
Dim lngBAL As Long, lngBAS As Long, lngBAW As Long
Dim lngEAL As Long, lngEAS As Long, lngEAW As Long
Dim lngStyle As Long
Dim pWeight As String
  'Get the cooridates and attributes of the selected line
  Set oShp = Selection.ShapeRange(1)
  i = oShp.Left
  j = oShp.Top
  k = oShp.Height
  l = oShp.Width
  bHFlip = oShp.HorizontalFlip
  bVFlip = oShp.VerticalFlip
  With oShp.Line
    lngStyle = .Style
    pWeight = .Weight
    lngBAL = .BeginArrowheadLength
    lngBAS = .BeginArrowheadStyle
    lngBAW = .BeginArrowheadWidth
    lngEAL = .EndArrowheadLength
    lngEAS = .EndArrowheadStyle
    lngEAW = .EndArrowheadWidth
  End With
  'Delete the line
  oShp.Delete
  'Recreate the line as a fully formattable VBA inserted line
  Set oShpNew = ActiveDocument.Shapes.AddLine(i, j, i + 72, j)
  With oShpNew
    .Left = i
    .Top = j
    .Width = l
    .Height = k
    If .HorizontalFlip <> bHFlip Then .Flip (msoFlipHorizontal)
    If .VerticalFlip <> bVFlip Then .Flip (msoFlipVertical)
    With .Line
      .Style = lngStyle
      .Weight = pWeight
      .BeginArrowheadLength = lngBAL
      .BeginArrowheadStyle = lngBAS
      .BeginArrowheadWidth = lngBAW
      .EndArrowheadLength = lngEAL
      .EndArrowheadStyle = lngEAS
      .EndArrowheadWidth = lngEAW
    End With
  End With
lbl_Exit:
  Exit Sub
End Sub

Note:  In the Word 2010 drawing object model this feature is restored using the line style "Compound Line" attribute.

That's it! I hope you have found this tips page useful and informative.

This page was last updated on March 09, 2021

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