For maximum precision (e.g., underlining only specific words within a paragraph or creating decorative underlines), the manual method is preferred.

As Linnie continued her journey, she encountered a mischievous group of dashes and dots, known as the "Stroke Squad." The Stroke Squad loved to play tricks on unsuspecting designers, but Linnie was determined to outsmart them. She learned how to use the underline feature to create a variety of different line styles and effects, from simple lines to intricate patterns.

To create a custom underline:

While Adobe Illustrator offers a one-click underline function in the Character panel, this feature is fundamentally limited to single-line strings and lacks baseline offset control. For professional typography involving multi-line paragraphs or complex compositions, designers must employ the Appearance Panel or manual vector drawing techniques. The Appearance Panel provides the best balance of live text editability and precise control, whereas manual underlines offer the highest degree of artistic freedom. Mastery of these three methods allows the user to choose the appropriate tool based on the specific demands of the project.

As Linnie's skills improved, she began to attract the attention of the Illustrator gods. The god of typography, Fontius, took notice of Linnie's mastery of the underline feature and decided to bestow upon her a special gift - the ability to create animated underlines.

Next, Linnie met a beautiful and elegant paragraph text named Parry. Parry showed Linnie how to use the underline feature to create stunning text effects, such as underlined headings and emphasized text.