Check this out: Superscript and subscript tips

Our favorite Microsoft Word guru, Dorothy Skans (Parsons Brinckerhoff), shares two tips for superscript and subscript.

Tip 1 shows how to create a character style that helps prevent super/subscripts from converting back to normal during revision cycles.

Tip 2 is a global find and replace that allows you to apply super/subscripts to all instances of a term in an existing document at one time. This tip works best if you follow Tip 1 first.

Tip 1: To create a superscript or subscript character style

  • Type the term that includes a super/subscript (example: “PM2.5”)
  • Select the “2.5” (be sure the space or punctuation following is not selected)
  • Apply subscript (Ctrl + =) or (Home ribbon, Font group, X2 icon) (Note: superscript is Ctrl + Shift + +)
  • With the “2.5” still selected, create a new character style titled “Subscript”
    • In Styles group on Home ribbon, click on down arrow in lower right corner or press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + S (opens Styles Task Pane on right side of screen)
    • Select New Style command (button in lower left corner)
    • Name the style “Subscript”
    • Select “Character” from Style type drop-down menu
    • Select “(underlying properties)” from Style based on drop-down menu
    • Click OK

Bonus Tip: To delete a character style

  • Select the term that has the character style assigned
  • Click on the Clear Formatting icon (Home ribbon, Font group) and term will revert back to underlying paragraph style

Tip 2: Using find and replace to change existing text

  • Select the term that is formatted correctly (following the directions in Tip 1 above)
  • Press Ctrl + c to copy the term to your clipboard (to see the clipboard, click on down arrow in bottom right corner of Clipboard group on Home ribbon)
  • Press Ctrl + Home to go to the top of your document
  • Press Ctrl + h to open the Find and Replace window
  • With cursor in Find What box, press Ctrl + v to paste your term
  • Click in Replace With box and type ^c  (this tells Word to replace the term with whatever is at the top of the list in the clipboard)
  • Click on Replace All