You've seen superscript and subscript text and symbols before. They're everywhere: temperatures (400°F and 0°C), calendar dates (1^st and 24^th), chemical formulas (H₂O and CH₄)—the list goes on.  

Whether you're writing a dissertation on the changing temperatures in the Arctic or you're drafting a formal resignation letter so you can pursue your lifelong dream of joining the circus, here's how to do subscript and superscript in Google Docs. 

Table of contents: 

• How to do subscript in Google Docs

• How to do superscript in Google Docs

• How to do subscript and superscript in Google Docs using special characters

How to do subscript in Google Docs 

1. Open a Google Docs document. 

2. Highlight the text you need to change to superscript or subscript.

3. Click Format > Text > Subscript. Or, use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+, on Windows or command+, on Mac.

   

Now your selected text appears smaller and aligned with the bottom of the rest of your text. 

How to do superscript in Google Docs

1. Open a Google Docs document. 

2. Highlight the text you need to translate to superscript or subscript.

3. Click Format > Text > Superscript. Or, use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+. on Windows or command+. on Mac. 

Similarly to subscript, your selected text appears smaller, but now it's aligned with the top of the rest of your text.  

How to do subscript and superscript in Google Docs using special characters

There are instances where you may need to insert a superscript symbol. For example, the degree symbol (°) or the dagger commonly found in footnotes (†). If you don't happen to know the highly specific keyboard shortcuts for these, you can insert a special character.  

1. Click the spot in your document where you want to insert the special character.

2. Click Insert > Special characters. 

   

3. In the Insert special characters popup that appears, find the symbol you want to insert. You can use the search bar or roughly draw the symbol in the space provided. 

   

4. Click the symbol you want to insert. 

The symbol will automatically appear as a superscript or subscript, depending on how it's commonly formatted. If you want to change a superscript to a subscript symbol (and vice versa), follow the steps mentioned above. 

Automate Google Docs

​​Google Docs offers plenty of formatting tools to make your files look pretty (or, you know, mathematically and scientifically accurate). And since you've already gone through all that manual effort of making them look pretty, why not use Zapier to connect Google Docs to thousands of other apps, so you can automate the rest of your tedious document-related tasks? For example, you can automatically save new documents to OneDrive or Dropbox. 

Related reading: 

• How to create a template in Google Docs

• How to add a signature in Google Docs

• How to strikethrough on Google Docs

• How to change the background color in Google Docs

• How to add a border in Google Docs