Six Ways to Subscript or Superscript in Microsoft Word

The best way to subscript or superscript in Word depends on what you are creating. For ordinary text, select it and use the Superscript or Subscript button on the Home tab. Keyboard shortcuts are faster. Use the Font dialog when you need to adjust the vertical offset, Insert Symbol for one fixed Unicode character, and Equation for structured mathematics.

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These instructions apply primarily to current desktop versions of Microsoft Word for Windows and Mac. Word for the web can display equations in a document, but Microsoft says that creating and editing equations requires desktop Word.

What are superscript and subscript?

Superscript places text slightly above the normal line, as in x² or 1^st. Subscript places text below the line, as in H₂O or a_n.

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Word offers two fundamentally different ways to produce these appearances:

• Formatting: Word repositions ordinary text and applies character formatting. This is usually the right choice for chemical formulas, footnote markers, ordinal endings, and short inline expressions.
• Characters or objects: Word inserts a specific Unicode character or creates a structured equation object. These options are better when the character itself matters or the content contains mathematical structure.

1. Use the Superscript or Subscript button

This is the easiest method for beginners and occasional formatting.

1. Select the letter, number, word, or other text you want to change.
2. Open the Home tab.
3. In the Font group, select Superscript (usually shown as x²) or Subscript (usually shown as x₂).

For example, to turn H2O into H₂O, select only the 2, then choose Subscript. To format x2 as x², select the 2 and choose Superscript.

The button applies direct character formatting to the selection. If you click it with no selection, it generally toggles the formatting for text you type next. Click the same button again to turn the mode off before continuing with ordinary text.

2. Use Windows keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts are faster than opening the ribbon when you frequently format formulas or notation.

1. Select the text.
2. Press the appropriate shortcut once to apply the formatting.
3. Use the same shortcut again, if necessary, to toggle the formatting off.

On many physical keyboards, the superscript shortcut means Ctrl + Shift + the key that produces +—often the plus/equal key. Laptop keyboards and non-US keyboard layouts may place that key differently, so the physical key combination can vary. If the shortcut does not work, use the Home-tab button or Font dialog, then check Word’s keyboard-shortcut settings.

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To clear unwanted direct superscript or subscript formatting in Word for Windows, select the affected text and press Ctrl + Spacebar. This clears direct character formatting and returns the selection to its underlying style formatting. It may also remove other direct formatting applied to that selection.

3. Use Mac keyboard shortcuts

Word for Mac uses Command, not Ctrl, for the documented equivalents:

First select the text, then press the shortcut. As on Windows, the plus key may be the plus/equal key on your keyboard, and keyboard layouts or laptop designs can change which physical key produces the required character. If the shortcut is inconvenient or conflicts with another command, use Home > Superscript/Subscript instead.

4. Use the Font dialog for precise positioning

The Font dialog provides the same basic superscript and subscript effects, but it also exposes offset controls. This is useful when Word’s default position looks too high or too low in a particular document.

1. Select the text.
2. Open the Home tab.
3. In the Font group, select the small Font dialog launcher—the diagonal-arrow button in the group’s lower-right corner.
4. Under Effects, select Superscript or Subscript.
5. Adjust the position or offset controls if your Word version displays them, then select OK.

Unlike simply reducing the font size and moving text manually, this keeps the text’s formatting semantically tied to a superscript or subscript effect. Font-dialog controls and labels can vary slightly between Word releases, so if your version does not show an offset field, use the available Effects controls or the Equation tool for mathematical layout.

5. Insert a ready-made superscript or subscript symbol

Use this method when you need a single, fixed character, not ordinary text that should be repositioned. Unicode includes characters such as 2, 3, and some superscript or subscript letters and numbers.

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1. Place the cursor where the character should appear.
2. Open Insert > Symbol > More Symbols.
3. Set the Font list to (normal text).
4. Open the Subset list and choose Superscripts and Subscripts.
5. Select the character and choose Insert, then Close.

This inserts a static Unicode character; it does not apply superscript formatting to the surrounding text. That distinction matters if you later want to change the character, select it as part of a formula, or apply consistent formatting across a document.

Symbols depend on the selected font. If a character is missing, appears as a box, or looks different from the surrounding text, try another font or use ordinary formatting instead. Symbol availability also varies: Unicode does not provide a ready-made superscript or subscript version of every letter, number, or symbol.

6. Use Equation for structured mathematics

For a real mathematical expression—especially one containing several exponents, subscripts, fractions, roots, or other structures—use Word’s built-in equation editor rather than manually formatting each character.

1. Open Insert > Equation, or press Alt + = on Windows.
2. Use the equation tools to choose a script layout, such as a superscript or subscript structure.
3. Enter the base expression and its superscript or subscript in the appropriate placeholder.

Equation input can also use linear representations such as UnicodeMath or LaTeX where supported by your Word version. Equation objects are designed for mathematical relationships and are easier to edit when an expression becomes more complex. On supported touchscreen devices, Word may also allow an equation to be written with a finger, stylus, or mouse through its ink-equation tools.

Use Equation when:

• the expression contains multiple nested scripts;
• you need fractions, radicals, matrices, limits, or aligned mathematical structures;
• the document is a technical, academic, or scientific paper where equation layout matters; or
• you expect to revise the mathematical expression later.

Use ordinary formatting instead for a short inline item such as H₂O, CO₂, or a simple footnote marker. An equation object can be unnecessarily heavy for those cases.

Advanced option: create a custom shortcut or macro

Custom commands are useful for repeat users who apply the same formatting sequence many times. Desktop Word can assign keyboard shortcuts to commands, fonts, styles, symbols, and macros. You can also record a macro that applies a preferred combination of formatting, then assign it to a keyboard shortcut or a Quick Access Toolbar button.

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This is not a standard seventh superscript button. It is a productivity layer for a particular workflow—for example, applying a house style to chemical formulas or inserting a frequently used symbol. Macro settings may be restricted by your organization’s security policy, and macros from untrusted documents should not be enabled.

Which method should you choose?

Word for the web, mobile Word, and older equation files

Word for the web

Word for the web supports common text formatting and can display equations already present in a document. However, do not expect the desktop equation-creation and equation-editing workflow to be available in the browser. Open the document in desktop Word when you need to create or substantially edit an equation.

Word on phones and tablets

Mobile Word includes text-formatting controls, but the exact interface depends on the device, operating system, and app version. Look for the formatting controls after selecting text; do not assume the desktop Home > Font dialog exists on mobile.

Legacy Equation Editor 3.0

Do not look for Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0 as a current Word feature. Microsoft removed the legacy editor because of security concerns and replaced it with the built-in equation editor. Older documents may contain legacy equation objects that need conversion to Word’s modern OMML format before they can be edited normally.

Troubleshooting

The formatting keeps affecting the text I type

Superscript and subscript are toggle formats. Select the same button or use the same shortcut again to turn the mode off. If existing text has unwanted direct formatting, select it and use Ctrl + Spacebar on Windows to clear direct formatting. On Mac and in the web version, use the platform’s available clear-formatting command.

Word automatically superscripted “1st” or “21st”

Microsoft 365 can automatically superscript ordinal endings such as those in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 21st. To disable this behavior in desktop Word:

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1. Open Word’s AutoCorrect Options.
2. Open the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
3. Clear Ordinals (1st) with superscript.
4. Confirm the change.

The shortcut does nothing

• Confirm that you are using the Windows or Mac shortcut for your platform.
• Try the plus/equal key rather than a separate numeric keypad key.
• Check whether your keyboard layout changes the location of the plus or minus key.
• Use the Home-tab button to verify that Word itself can apply the formatting.
• If a shortcut conflicts with another command, customize it or use the Font dialog.

The symbol is missing or looks wrong

Choose (normal text) and the Superscripts and Subscripts subset in the Symbol dialog. If the character is unavailable or displays as a box, try a font with broader Unicode support. For a character that does not exist as a ready-made Unicode symbol, apply superscript or subscript formatting to ordinary text.

Quick answer

For most Word documents, select the text and choose Home > Superscript or Home > Subscript. On Windows, use Ctrl + Shift + Plus for superscript and Ctrl + Shift + Minus for subscript. On Mac, replace Ctrl with Command. Use Insert > Symbol for one fixed Unicode character and Insert > Equation for structured mathematics.