A superscript or subscript is a number, figure, symbol, or indicator that is smaller than the normal line of type and is set slightly above it (superscript) or below it (subscript). When you add a trademark, copyright, or other symbol to your presentation, you might want the symbol to appear slightly above the rest of your text. If you’re creating a footnote, you might also want to do this with a number.
Use the Superscript or Subscript buttons
-
Select the text or number you want.
-
Go to Home and select Superscript
Use keyboard shortcuts to apply superscript or subscript
-
Select the text or number that you want.
-
For superscript, press Ctrl, Shift, and the Plus sign (+) at the same time.
For subscript, press Ctrl and the Equal sign (=) at the same time. (Do not press Shift.)
Tip: You can also format text as superscript or subscript by selecting options in the Font dialog box, as described in the next procedure.
Apply Superscript or Sub script from the font dialog box
-
Select the text that you want to format as superscript or subscript.
-
Go to Home, in the Font group, select the Font Dialog Box Launcher
-
Select Superscript or Subscript in the Effects group.
Tip: You can make text superscript or subscript without changing the font size. For superscript, enter a higher percentage in the Offset box. For subscript, enter a lower percentage in the Offset box.
Undo superscript or subscript formatting
To undo superscript or subscript formatting, select your text and press Ctrl+Spacebar.
Insert a superscript or subscript symbol
-
Click where you want to add the symbol.
-
Go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols.
If your app isn't full screen, you may need to select Symbol again before More Symbols.
-
In the Symbol box, select (normal text) from the Font drop-down list. It's the first item on the list.
-
In the Symbol box, in the Subset drop-down list, select Superscripts and Subscripts.
-
In the Symbol box, select the symbol you want, press Insert, and then pick Close.
Keyboard shortcuts: Apply superscript or subscript
To make text appear slightly above (superscript) or below (subscript) your regular text, you can use keyboard shortcuts.
-
Select the text or number that you want.
-
For superscript, press
For subscript, press
Tip: You can also format text as superscript or subscript by selecting options in the Font dialog box.
Apply superscript or subscript formatting to text
-
Select the text that you want to format as superscript or subscript.
-
On the Home tab, in the Font group, select Superscript
Undo superscript or subscript formatting
To undo superscript or subscript formatting, select your text and press Ctrl+Spacebar.
Insert a superscript symbol
For certain symbols that are almost always superscript, such as ® and ™, simply insert the symbol and it will automatically be formatted as superscript.
-
On the Insert tab, select Symbol.
-
Select Symbols to scroll through the options or select Special Characters and select the symbol you want to insert.
-
Select the text that you want to format as superscript or subscript.
-
Go to Home and select Superscript
See Also
Turn off superscripting of ordinal numbers
Format text as superscript or subscript in PowerPoint and Outlook
