# MS Word - switching to subscript and back

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-switching-to-subscript-and-back/263019>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 3, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-switching-to-subscript-and-back/263019 "2004-09-03T20:52:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-switching-to-subscript-and-back/263019/1 "2004-09-03T20:52:54Z")

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Is there any way to switch between regular text and subscript in Microsoft Word quickly? I can go to “format” then “font” then check the subscript box, but is there any way to do it faster (as when typing out chemical compounds)?

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**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-switching-to-subscript-and-back/263019/2 "2004-09-03T21:16:58Z")

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“Ctrl =” is sub  
“Ctrl +” is super (so it’s really Ctrl,shift, =)  
Do you know how to customize toolbars (It’s under “view; toolbars; customize”)?

There is a button for sub (or super) script that you can add too.

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**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-switching-to-subscript-and-back/263019/3 "2004-09-03T21:37:55Z")

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Thank you! I figured there was probably a toolbar customization, but I haven’t used Word since Word 97, and it has been a few years.