Software & Apps MS Office How to Do Subscript in Word Commands and shortcuts for below-the-line typing by Scott Orgera Writer Scott Orgera is a former writer who covering tech since 2007. He has 25+ years experience as a programmer and QA leader, and holds several Microsoft certifications. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Scott Orgera Updated on November 13, 2020 Tweet Share Email MS Office Word Excel Powerpoint Outlook 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. Microsoft Word makes it easy to include subscript text in your documents, which can be achieved by taking the following steps. How to Subscript in Word Follow these steps to do subscript in Microsoft Word. Open the document in which you would like to add subscript text or create a new document. Type the text as you would normally, with no special formatting applied. For example, to depict a formula that signifies water, type H2O. Select the text you want to appear as subscript so that it is highlighted. In this example, select the number 2 in H2O. 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+=. 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: Open MS Word Online and navigate to the document in which you want to add subscript text or create a new document. Type the text as you would normally, with no special formatting applied. For example, to depict a formula that signifies water, type H2O. Select More Font Options, represented by three horizontally-aligned dots and located between the Clear Formatting and Bullets buttons on the main toolbar. When the drop-down menu appears, select Subscript. The selected characters appear in subscript format. Repeat these steps at any time to reverse the subscript formatting. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit