You can also use keyboard shortcuts to quickly apply a superscript or subscript to selected text. For superscript, press Control-Shift-Command-Plus Sign(). For the hint, press Control-Command-Minus Sign (-).
Format text or numbers as superscript or subscript
Select the characters in a cell or range of cells that you want to format. On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the Font Settings dialog box launcher. Press CTRL1. Under Effects, check the Superscript or Subscript box, then click OK.
How to Make Subscript and Superscript in Excel for Text and Numbers
What is superscript and subscript in Excel?
The superscript is a small letter or number typed above the baseline. If there is previous text in a cell, the superscript is attached to the top of the normal-sized characters.
For example, you can use the exponent to write square units such as m2 or inches2, ordinal numbers such as 1st, 2nd or 3rd, or mathematical exponents such as 23 or 52.
The subscript is a small character or string located below the line of text.
In mathematics, it is often used to write number bases like 648 or chemical formulas such as H2O or NH3.
How to make superscript and subscript for text values
Most Excel formats can be applied to any data type in the same way. Superscript and subscript are another story. The methods described in this section work only for text values, but not for numbers. For what? I think only the Microsoft team knows the exact reason 🙂 Maybe because it would convert numbers to strings and they want to prevent you from accidentally changing your data.
Apply superscript or subscript format
Whenever you want to format text in Excel, open the Format Cells dialog box. It allows you to quickly apply the superscript, subscript and strikethrough effect or formatting you want.
In case of superscript and subscript, there is an obstacle. You can't just apply the format normally to the entire cell, because that would move all the text above or below the baseline, which is definitely not what you want.
Here are the steps to correctly insert a subscript or superscript:
Select the text you want to format. To do this, double-click on a cell and select the text using the mouse. Or you can follow the old-fashioned way: click on the cell and press F2 to enter edit mode.
Open the Format Cells dialog box by pressing Ctrl 1 or right-click the selection and choose Format Cells… from the context menu.
In the Format Cells dialog box, go to the Font tab and select Superscript or Subscript under Effects.
Click OK to save the change and close the dialog box.
Do! The selected text will be in subscript or superscript depending on the option you have checked.
Note. Like any other formatting in Excel, it only changes the visual representation of the value in a cell. The formula bar will display the original value without any indication of the superscript or subscript format applied.
Excel Subscript Shortcut
Ctrl 1, then Alt B, then Enter
Excel Subscript Shortcut
Please pay attention that the keys should not be pressed simultaneously, each key combination should be pressed and released in turn:
Select one or more characters you want to format.
Press Ctrl 1 to open the Format Cells dialog box.
Then press Alt E to select the Superscript option or Alt B to select Subscript.
Press the Enter key to apply the formatting and close the dialog box.
Add superscript and subscript icons to the Quick Access Toolbar
Excel 2016 users on Office 365 subscriptions have the option to add the Subscript and Superscript buttons to their Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). Here are the steps for this unique setup:
Click the down arrow next to QAT in the upper left corner of the Excel window and choose More Commands… from the context menu.
Add a superscript and under Choose Commands, select Commands not in the ribbon, scroll down, select Subscript from the list of commands, and then click the Add button.
In the same way, add the Superscript button.
With both buttons added to the list of commands in the right pane, click OK to save the changes.
Additionally, a special keyboard shortcut is assigned to each button on the Quick Access Toolbar, allowing you to write subscript and superscript in Excel 2016 with just one keystroke! Key combinations vary depending on the number of buttons supported by your QAT.
To find superscript and subscript shortcuts on your computer, hold down Alt and look at the Quick Access Toolbar. For me they are:
Hint shortcut: Alt 4
Superscript shortcut: Alt 5
Hint icons on the Quick Access Toolbar
Excel 2016 users on Office 365 subscriptions have the option to add the Subscript and Superscript buttons to their Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). Here are the steps for this unique setup:
Click the down arrow next to QAT in the upper left corner of the Excel window and choose More Commands… from the context menu.
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