ACC: How to Create Raised or Sunken Text in Forms and Reports

Microsoft Access has commands to create a raised or sunken effect for text boxes and labels, but does not have commands to create these effects for text. This article describes how to create raised and sunken text on a form or report.

NOTE: In Microsoft Access for Windows 95 version 7.0, you can use a Microsoft WordArt 2.0 Object to accomplish the same task. To do so, click Object on the Insert menu, and then select Microsoft WordArt 2.0. This gives you a wider choice of Special text effects for your labels.

This method for creating a raised or sunken effect uses three labels. The three labels are stacked on one another. Two of the labels are slightly offset from the other to create the shadow and highlight effects that are necessary to create a raised or sunken appearance.

How to Create Raised Lettering

The following steps describe how to create lettering with a raised appearance:

1. Start Microsoft Access and create a new, blank form.
2. Change the form's color to light gray. To do so, open the palette by choosing Palette from the View menu. Then, click an empty area of the form and select the light gray box in the Palette's Fill row in version 1.x, or the BackColor row in version 2.0.
3. Add a new label to the form and enter the text "Test" (without the quotation marks).
4. Select the Clear box in the Palette's Fill row in version 1.x, or the BackColor row in version 2.0, so that the two other labels (created later) can be seen.
5. Set the label's FontSize property to 28 and its FontName property to Times New Roman (this is optional, and can be changed to any font size and name you want). Resize the control to fit the text if necessary.
6. Change the label's ControlName property to Main.
7. Note the Top and Left properties for the label. You will need to use these settings later when you create the two other labels.
8. Select the label and make a copy of it by choosing Duplicate from the Edit menu.
9. Change the duplicate label's ControlName property to Left.
10. Change the new label's Top and Left properties to be .07 greater than the Top and Left properties of the Main label. For example, if the Main label's Top property is set to .5, set the Left label's Top property to .57
11. Change the Left label's text color in version 1.x, or Forecolor in version 2.0, to white using the palette.
12. From the Layout menu in version 1.x, or the Format menu in version 2.0, choose Send To Back.
13. Select the Main label, and then choose Duplicate from the Edit menu.
14. Change the new label's ControlName property to Right. Set its Top and Left properties to be .01 greater than those of the Main label.
15. Change the Right label's text color in version 1.x, or Forecolor in version 2.0, to dark gray using the palette.
16. From the Layout menu in version 1.x, or the Format menu in version 2.0, choose Send To Back.
17. Select the Main label and change its text color (or Forecolor) to light gray using the palette.
18. View the form in Form view. Note that the text "Test" appears as raised text.

How to Create Sunken Lettering

To create sunken lettering, follow steps 1-18 above, but reverse the text colors of the Left and Right labels in steps 11 and 15. Set the Left label's text color to dark gray in step 11, and set the Right label's text color to white in step 15.

Note that you can also create a raised or sunken effect for the entire label by choosing Raised or Sunken from the Palette's Appearance row.

"Inside Microsoft Access," October 1993, Vol. 1, No. 8., pages 1-4