formatting of text within variables

hi,

this is probably a quick yes/no response but is it possible to format text within variables? So say I have a text variable, is it possible to code some of that text bold, some italic, etc. From testing, when I copy out the variable into another application like MS Word, it just adopts the local formatting? Is there any way around this? I even tried using xml tags like <b></b> but no joy

thanks in advance

Pat