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Home › Videos › How to apply subscript, superscript, and strikethrough formatting in Excel

How to apply subscript, superscript, and strikethrough formatting in Excel

Transcript 

In this lesson we'll look at how to apply subscript, superscript, and strikethrough formatting.

Let's take a look.

If you need to apply subscript or superscript formatting, you won't find these options on the ribbon. Instead, they're located on the Font tab of the Format Cells dialog box in the Effects group.

To apply either subscript or superscript, you need to follow a particular process. You can't just select a cell normally and apply one of these formats. If you do, you'll see that all text in a cell is affected, which is almost certainly not what you want.

There are two ways to apply subscript or superscript.

The first option is to double-click a cell, or select the cell and press F2 to enter edit mode. Then, select the text you'd like to format and access the Format Cells dialog box. On the Font tab, check the format you want, and press OK to confirm.

The second option is to select a cell and work directly in the formula bar. As before, carefully select the text you'd like to format. Then use Format Cells to apply Superscript or Subscript as you like.

Note that the formula bar doesn't show any indication that superscript or subscript formatting has been applied. However, when you edit a cell directly you will see the formatting clearly.

To remove superscript or subscript formatting, select the cell, and then access the Format Cells dialog box. Then, clear the appropriate checkbox.

The process for applying strikethrough formatting is similar. If you'd like to apply strikethrough formatting to the entire contents of a cell, just select the cell, access the Format Cells dialog, and check the Strikethrough box.

If you'd like to apply strikethrough to just part of a cell, select the text you'd like to format in the formula bar, or, in the cell itself. Then apply Strikethrough as before.

To clear strikethrough formatting, just clear the checkbox in the Format Cells dialog box.

Master Excel with practice. Download this worksheet (and dozens more) in our Core Excel course. Learn by doing.

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Dave Bruns

Hi - I'm Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.

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