Superscript and subscript buttons for Excel 2003/2007/2010/2013/2016

Add the missing formatting buttons / keyboard shortcuts to your Microsoft® Excel®

NEW VERSION
Now supports also 64-bit version of Excel!

Most Microsoft Excel users have noted that it is very frustrating to use ^superscript or _subscript formatting in Microsoft Excel. Such formatting has not available on any toolbar or ribbon tab for more than twenty years and even adding them there by customizing the toolbars/ribbon has not been possible. The only way to use superscript and subscript effects has been going through the Format Cells dialog each time you needed to change the style.

There are several macros and add-ins available in the Internet that try to solve this shortage of Microsoft Excel. Many simple macro-based buttons allow only the whole cell to be formatted in superscript or subscript, which is basically useless! Other popular ones provide awful custom "edit dialog" with superscript and subscript buttons. However, that kind of approach has poor usability in daily use.

(Although Office 365® subscribers finally got these ribbon buttons with Microsoft Excel version 1704, and others starting from Excel 2019, they still lack the corresponding keyboard shortcuts that have been available on other Microsoft Office® applications for decades.)

The solution

If you are not on Office 365 subscription or miss the handy keyboard shortcuts*, install panuworld.net's original ExcelSuperSubToolbar add-in. It does just the things listed below and nothing more — do not bloat your Excel with tens of add-on functions that you do not actually use. The add-in works both on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Excel. However, proper operation on 64-bit Excel still needs confirmation: if you have good or bad news about the newest version of this add-in on 64-bit Excel, please tell me.

Superscript and Subscript Buttons for Microsoft Excel (version 1.6) (ZIP, 360 kB)

Run this setup program to install the add-in and restart Microsoft Excel to get the new toolbar/ribbon buttons and keyboard shortcuts*.

The new buttons work like the built-in Superscript and Subscript buttons in Microsoft Word® and Microsoft PowerPoint®: for example, they reflect the text style of the current selection or insertion point. Buttons can be used to format not only entire cells but also change the text style during in-cell editing (while changing the cell contents, a.k.a. edit mode).

As a bonus, the add-in adds Symbol Font function familiar to Microsoft Word users: just press the toolbar/ribbon button (or the shortcut key combination*, see below) and the next letter you type will use the Symbol font. After that, the previous font is automatically restored. It is very handy way to type e.g. formulas containing Greek letters.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts* to access the new functions. The shortcuts have been selected to match the corresponding ones on the other Microsoft Office applications. For example, on a US keyboard:

Icon	Function	Shortcut*	Notes
x2	Superscript	Ctrl+Shift++	For Insert Cells, use Ctrl++ on the numeric keypad instead.
x2	Subscript	Ctrl+=
Ω	Symbol Font	Ctrl+Shift+Q

* Keyboard shortcuts are not available when this add-in is used with 64-bit version of Microsoft Excel. They also vary a little bit depending on your keyboard layout (language). Hover the mouse pointer above the toolbar/ribbon buttons to see if the shortcuts are available and the exact key combination on your particular keyboard layout.

EULA, troubleshooting, version history, and other information »