thanks Koen. From what I could follow I came up with this - however I must be missing something - The fonts characteristics are not actually applied.

lcfont_name =   'Courier New'
lnfont_size =   14     
lcfont_style =   'BI'

lcxxx = [FONT "] + lcfont_name + [", ] + ;
ALLTRIM(STR(lnfont_size)) + ;
[ STYLE "] + lcfont_style+[" ] 

public gcMenuF,gcMenuT
gcMenuF = ".f. " + lcxxx
gcMenuT = ".t. " + lcxxx

WAIT WINDOW "test " + lcxxx

this appears in menu tab as well

test FONT 'Courier New", 14 style "BI"



>>Hi tamar
>>It's a popup menu item - I wanted to start one of the bar items with a symbol.
>>yes it is old approach and I have upgraded many of the popups and converted to many of the different ones offered on this site - most commonly 'form'.
>>but still find the old popup easiest to create and integrate.
>>
>>k
>
>Hi,
>
>Maybe the FAQ I found in Tek-Tips will be of some help to you?
>
>http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=6328
>
>Regards,
>
>Koen