hi,
on a play sheet i have, i just color the Changcolors()
part of the sub below to blue. the word sub remain black.
if i understand what you want, the code below with do it.
(tested).
Sub changecolors()
Range("H19").Select
With ActiveCell.Characters(Start:=1, Length:=4).Font
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
With ActiveCell.Characters(Start:=5, Length:=14).Font
.ColorIndex = 5
End With
End Sub

-----Original Message-----
I wish to change the font color index in part of a string
(using visual
basic) in the same fashion that we can change a
highlighted part of a string
in the editing bar.

VB seems to require that the characters to have their
font color index
changed have to be an entire selected cell.
.