Superscript and subscript in Excel offer enhanced formatting options for text and mathematical expressions. They’re particularly useful for presenting exponents, footnotes, or chemical formulas. By using these features, you can make your data more visually appealing and easier to understand. Whether you’re creating reports, academic papers, or scientific documents, incorporating superscript and subscript can improve the clarity and professionalism of your work. Excel provides simple shortcuts or menu options to apply these formatting styles quickly, saving you time and effort. With proper utilization of superscript and subscript, you can convey complex information with clarity, ensuring your Excel spreadsheets are both informative and visually appealing.
This Tutorial Covers:
- What do the Excel superscripts and subscripts mean
- Methods for Excel text Subscripting and Superscripting
- How to Subscript and Superscript with format text
- How to Subscript and Superscript with a keyboard shortcut
- How to Subscript and Superscript with Quick Access Toolbar icons
- How to Subscript and Superscript with Excel ribbon button
- Superscript and Subscript to numbers
- How to Subscript and Superscript in equations
- How to Subscript and Superscript with a keyboard shortcut
- How to Subscript and Superscript with a formula
1. What do the Excel superscripts and subscripts mean?
Tiny letters or numbers that are appended to another word or number are known as superscripts and subscripts. When connected to a word or number, a superscript is typed above the baseline, whereas a subscript is typed below the baseline. Superscripts are more frequent than subscripts.
The readability of the data in your Excel sheets can be increased by using subscripts and superscripts. If you share your spreadsheet with someone else, they can quickly recognize items like mathematical equations and registered trademarks thanks to subscripts and superscripts.
Here are several instances where using Excel superscript or subscript function may be beneficial:
Mathematical concepts: When you are representing a number to a particular power, one of the most frequent uses of a superscript in mathematics is. For instance, 33 might be used to represent 3 to the third power (3 x 3 x 3).
Number order: A superscript could be used to record a series of instructions, activities, or outcomes. Imagine that you are discussing the outcomes of an automobile race. You might need to display which automobile finished first, second, and third.
Footnotes: A superscript can be used by authors to direct readers to material in a footnote or endnote. Let’s imagine, for illustration, that you quote numerous sources in footnotes. This is how the third entry on the page will appear: (information)3.
Trademark symbols: Superscripts can be used to denote intellectual property. If your product has a registered trademark, for instance, you will write it like this: (product)®.
Chemical formulas: Subscripts are used by chemists to describe substances. Water, for instance, has the chemical formula H2O. This indicates that there are two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms in water.
2. Methods for Excel text Subscripting and Superscripting:
Excel makes it simpler to add superscripts and subscripts to text values than to numbers. This is so that your data won’t be messed up when the sequence converts to a single string when they are attached to numbers.
To add superscripts and subscripts to regular text in your Excel worksheets, you can do so in a number of different methods, including:
- With format text, use subscripts and superscripts.
- Using a keyboard shortcut, subscript, and superscript.
- With icons for the Quick Access Toolbar, subscript, and superscript.
- Excel ribbon buttons for subscript and superscript.
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How to Subscript and Superscript with format text?
Team members may find it simpler to quickly identify objects in your spreadsheet, such as chemical compounds and squared numbers, by using a subscript or superscript to format text.
The steps for adding a subscript or superscript to your worksheet are listed below:
Step 1: Select the text or letter you want to modify.
Step 2: To open the dialog box, right-click on the text you wish to modify and choose “Format Cells”.
Step 3: Ensure the “Font” tab is selected when the dialog box appears. Select “Superscript” or “Subscript” from “Effects” menu, then click OK. Your text ought to update itself.
The result looks like this:
Apply the same process for other cells and it looks like below:
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How to Subscript and Superscript with a keyboard shortcut?
Although there are no direct shortcut keys in Excel to turn text into superscript or subscript, you can use a shortcut key to open the Format Cells dialog box.
The steps to Subscript and Superscript with a keyboard shortcut are described below:
Step 1: Press CTRL + 1 when the text you want to modify is chosen.
Use your cursor to choose the Subscript or Superscript checkbox after launching the dialog box.
Alternatively, while still in the Format Cells dialog box, you can use keyboard shortcuts to apply superscript or subscript formatting. On a PC, press Alt + E for superscript or Alt + B for subscript. On a Mac, press Option + E for superscript or Option + B for subscript. These keyboard shortcuts can save you time and effort when working with superscript and subscript formatting in Excel.
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How to Subscript and Superscript with Quick Access Toolbar icons?
You can add superscript and subscript to your Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) if you’re using Excel 2016 or later and have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription.
The steps below are what you should do:
Step 1: In the top left corner of your excel sheet, find and pick the downward-pointing arrow next to the QAT. You may need to choose “…” on certain computers in place of the arrow pointing down. Click on More Commands.
Step 2: Click “Commands Not in the Ribbon” by choosing it from the drop-down list next to “Choose Commands From”. Click the “Add>>” button to move “Subscript” and “Superscript” to the “Customize Quick Action Toolbar” section.
When you’re finished, your QAT bar should display the subscript and superscript symbols. Additionally, hotkeys are provided for accomplishing the tasks. Press Alt + 4 or Option + 4 to enter subscript. Press Alt + 5 or Option + 5 for superscript.
After choosing a text, click this button to rapidly turn it into a subscript.
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How to Subscript and Superscript with Excel ribbon button?
In a similar way, Excel 2016 and later editions give you the ability to add the subscript button to the Excel Ribbon.
Follow these steps to accomplish this:
Step 1: The “Customize the Ribbon” option can be accessed by performing a right-click anywhere on the Excel Ribbon.
Step 2: Choose the tab you want to keep the subscript button on in the “Excel Options” dialogue box’s “Customize the Ribbon” section.
Select “New Group” from the menu. To give this group a new name, select “Rename” from the menu.
Choose “Commands Not in the Ribbon” from the drop-down menu “Choose commands from” on the left side of the screen. Choose “Subscript” from the list of commands. Hit “OK” after clicking “Add”.
The subscript button has now been successfully integrated to the Excel Ribbon. Simply select a text and then click this button to make it a subscript.
3. Superscript and Subscript to numbers:
When employing numbers, using superscripts and subscripts becomes a little more challenging. Let’s imagine, for illustration, that you are attempting to enter the number “43” in a cell. The string will change back to “43” if your cursor travels to a different cell if you make the “3” a superscript.
Excel can only produce text with subscripts and superscripts. You can use an apostrophe before the digits so Excel can read them as text, like in “43,” to make your number readable. You should be aware that your numbers won’t produce a result in Excel if they are entered as text.
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How to Subscript and Superscript in equations?
You can add multiple prewritten equations from Excel to your spreadsheet that already have superscripts and subscripts. Equations like the formula for a circle’s area, the Pythagorean theorem, and the binomial theorem are all included in the equations dialogue box. Remember that program equations cannot provide results and will appear on your spreadsheet as floating data.
Excel equations can be accessed by:
Step 1: On the “Insert” tab, click.
In the top-right corner of your Excel workbook, click the downward pointing arrow next to “Symbols”.
There is a collection of ready-made equations for you to utilize, including the Pythagorean Theorem and the Area of a Circle equation, if you click the downward pointing arrow next to Equation.
By selecting the icon above Equations, you can also create your own equation. When you add an equation to your workbook or build your own equation, it will show up as a floating data point in the middle of your worksheet rather as inside a cell.
Equation will also be a new tab that will automatically choose in your Excel ribbon. The Equation toolbar can be found below the new tab. Only when the equation on your worksheet is selected will the Equation tab and toolbar be shown.
There are various choices for modifying your equations on the toolbar. For instance, it features a group of symbols for mathematical signs such, and numerous others that you may use in equations. You can also add exponents, functions, and fractions to your equations using the tool bar.
The equation you add to your Excel sheet won’t show up in a certain cell. It will need to be modified to meet your demands.
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How to Subscript and Superscript with a keyboard shortcut?
Excel’s character function codes provide a quick way to add superscripts to numbers using keyboard shortcuts. These codes correspond to sets of keys that return different characters, including numbers, letters, and special characters. While there are superscript codes available for numerals 1, 2, and 3, there are no subscript codes. Moreover, these shortcuts may not work on all computers, so it’s essential to check the availability of these shortcuts on your computer.
To use these shortcuts, first, select an empty cell, then hold down the Alt or Option key and type in the correct superscript shortcut code on your computer’s number pad.
For instance:
- Alt + 0185 or Option + 0185 will create a superscripted 1.
- Alt + 0178 or Option + 0178 will create a superscripted 2.
- Alt + 0179 or Option + 0179 will create a superscripted 3.
Note that on some computers, you may need to create the superscript in an empty cell before you can use the keyboard shortcut. In such cases, type a number in front of the superscript after creating it. It’s worth mentioning that certain fonts in Excel, such as Calibri and Arial, may restrict the use of character functions, including superscript and subscript.
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How to Subscript and Superscript with a formula?
Using formulae is an additional method for adding superscripts. Only superscripts 1, 2, and 3 can be used with this technique. Without character codes, it won’t work for subscripts or superscripts. All computers won’t be compatible with this technique.
- CHAR (185), the superscript formula for 1, is used.
- CHAR(178) is the superscript formula for the number 2.
- CHAR(179) is the superscript formula for the number 3.
Consider that you are making a spreadsheet. On your worksheet, cell A2 has the number 23 that you filled in. In order to represent 23 to the second power, you need to make a superscript format 2 in cell B2 for 23 (the number in cell A2).
How to Subscript and Superscript with a formula is shown below:
Step 1: In cell B2, click and then type
=A3&CHAR(178)
Cell B2 should display a text string with the value 232 in it.
Application of Superscript and Subscript in Excel
- Exponents: Use superscript to represent exponents in mathematical equations, making them clearer and easier to understand.
- Footnotes: Employ subscript to add footnotes or annotations to your data, providing additional context or explanations.
- Chemical Formulas: Display chemical formulas accurately by using subscript for elements and numbers, ensuring precision in scientific documents.
- Ordinal Numbers: Format ordinal numbers, such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, with subscript, improving readability in reports or presentations.
- Technical Notations: Apply superscript and subscript for technical notations, such as temperature symbols (e.g., °C for degrees Celsius), ensuring proper representation.
- Data Labels: Utilize superscript and subscript in data labels for charts or graphs to highlight specific information without cluttering the visual presentation.
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