Subscripts are special characters that look smaller than the normal text. Writing a document with scientific equations or mathematical equations requires subscripts. You cannot do it as you type. Many people struggle in doing this.

You can make subscripts easily on Microsoft Word once you get to know how it is made. Let’s see how you can do subscript on Word easily in both Desktop and Online versions.

Do Subscript with X2 Button

To do subscript, open a Word document and type the content.

Once you have typed the content, select the text you want to subscript and click on ‘X2‘ on the ‘Home’ tab.

The text you have selected will turn into a subscript.

Do Subscript Using Font Options

Select the text you want to do subscript and click on the downward arrow ‘Font’ dialog box launcher button on the ‘Home’ tab.

In the ‘Font’ dialog box, check the button beside ‘Subscript’ in the ‘Effects’ section and click on ‘OK’.

The text you have selected will turn into subscript.

Do Subscript with Symbols

Another way to do subscript is inserting symbols. To do so, click on the ‘Insert’ tab on the ribbon.

Click on the drop-down ‘Symbol’ button and select ‘More Symbols…’ from the drop-down options.

A ‘Symbol’ dialog box will open. Change font to ‘normal text’ by clicking on the drop-down button beside ‘Font’.

Now, change ‘Subset’ to ‘Superscripts and Subscripts’ by clicking on the drop-down button beside it.

From the options of ‘Superscripts and Subscripts’, select the one you require and click on ‘Insert’ and then click on ‘Close’ beside it.

The subscript you selected at the place where the cursor is.

Do Subscript with Keyboard Shortcut

If you don’t want to use all the above options while typing and still want to do subscript, the keyboard shortcut will work for you.

Press Ctrl + = on your keyboard and type the text you want to subscript. Or select the text you want to subscript and use the same keyboard shortcut. The shortcut works both ways.

Note: The keyboard shortcut will not work in Online Word.

How to Remove Subscript

In case, you want to make subscript into normal text, select the subscripted text and click on the ‘X2‘ button again. It will make the text look normal or use the keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl+I’ which will also make subscript text look normal.