How to Do Subscript in Word

This article explains how to use subscript in Microsoft Word. Subscript allows you to type special characters that appear slightly below the current line of text, which can be helpful when depicting mathematical and chemical formulas, as well as other not-so-common uses.

How to Subscript in Word

Microsoft Word makes it easy to include subscript text in your documents. Follow these steps to do subscript in Microsoft Word.

1. Open the document in which you would like to add subscript text or create a new document.

2. Type the text as you would normally, with no special formatting applied. For example, to depict a formula that signifies water, type H2O.

   

3. Select the text you want to appear as subscript so that it is highlighted. In this example, select the number 2 in H2O.

4. Go to the Home tab and, in the Font group, select Subscript, represented by the letter x and a depressed number 2.

   Alternatively, use a keyboard shortcut. In Windows, press Ctrl+= (equal sign). In macOS, press Cmd+=.

   

5. The selected characters appear in subscript format. Repeat these steps at any time to reverse the subscript formatting.

   

How to Subscript in Word Online

The steps for creating subscript in Microsoft Word Online are similar with a few small differences:

1. Open MS Word Online and navigate to the document in which you want to add subscript text or create a new document.

2. Type the text as you would normally, with no special formatting applied. For example, to depict a formula that signifies water, type H2O.

   

3. Select More Font Options, represented by three horizontally-aligned dots and located between the Clear Formatting and Bullets buttons on the main toolbar.

   

4. When the drop-down menu appears, select Subscript.

   

5. The selected characters appear in subscript format. Repeat these steps at any time to reverse the subscript formatting.