strikeover

A strikeover is a typeface or typographic effect where a horizontal line runs through the middle of each character, making text appear struck through or crossed out. In digital typography and word processing, this is often called strikethrough. The effect is achieved either through a dedicated font where each glyph is designed with the line integral to its shape, or through a formatting command that overlays a rule across existing characters. The result looks identical either way: the text remains legible beneath the line.

Strikeover fonts have specific legal and commercial uses. They appear in corrected documents, where deletion is marked without physical erasure; in accounting and inventory systems, where cancelled entries must remain visible for audit trails; and in manuscript markup, where rejected revisions are preserved for review. In printing, strikethrough formatting is sometimes used to show price reductions on promotional materials or to indicate deprecated product codes. The technique is also employed in forms and compliance documents where evidence of correction is required.

Implementation and limitations

The thickness, position, and weight of the striking line vary by typeface and software. In most digital systems, the rule is drawn at approximately 50 percent of the x-height and positioned midway through the character. On narrow or intricate typefaces, this can reduce readability significantly. Some fonts designed for strikeover use position the line slightly higher or lower to avoid obscuring critical character elements like ascenders and descenders. When printing strikeover text at small point sizes, the line may appear to merge with serifs or thin strokes, degrading clarity.

Strikeover differs from overstriking, a mechanical printing technique where one character is printed directly over another without a horizontal line. It also differs from redaction, where text is hidden or removed entirely. The strikeover preserves the original content while explicitly marking it as negated, which is why it remains the standard in legal documents, change orders, and audit-sensitive records.

In desktop publishing and word processing, strikeover is often considered a character attribute rather than a separate font, meaning it can be applied to any typeface via formatting commands. However, dedicated strikeover typefaces sometimes render more cleanly, particularly at small sizes or low print resolutions. The effectiveness of strikeover in communication depends on context: it signals correction clearly in technical documents but can reduce scannability in dense body text.