How to Do Subscript in Word

Commands and shortcuts for below-the-line typing

H2O chemical formula subscripted in Microsoft Word
Formatting subscript characters in Word.


Subscript allows you to type special characters that appear slightly below the current line of text, which can be helpful when depicting certain mathematical and chemical formulas along with other not-as-common uses. Microsoft Word makes it very easy to include subscript text in your documents, which can be achieved by taking the following steps.

How to Subscript in Word

  1. Open the document in which you would like to add subscript text, or create a new document.
  2. Type in your text as you would normally, with no special formatting applied. For example, if you'd like to depict a formula that signifies water, simply type H2O.
  3. Select the specific text you want to appear as subscript so it becomes highlighted. In this example, you'd want to select the number 2 in H2O.
  4. On macOS and Windows only: Select the Subscript button, located in the Font section of Word's main toolbar and represented by the letter 'x' and a depressed number 2.
    1. Tip: You can also use the following keyboard shortcut in lieu of select this button. Windows: Ctrl+=; macOS: Cmd+=.
  5. Word Online only: Select the More Font Options button, represented by three horizontally-aligned dots and located between the Clear Formatting and Bullets buttons on Word's main toolbar. When the drop-down menu appears, select the Subscript option.
  6. Your selected character(s) should now appear in subscript format.

Repeat these steps at any time to reverse this formatting.