How to Superscript in PowerPoint?

Making a professional presentation requires attention to every small detail. Beginners usually tend to ignore superscript and subscript in text for slides. What are these two terms, and how to superscript in PowerPoint? How to make symbols and other special characters appear professional in the PPT slides?

Adding complex formulae requires slightly different approach that writing plain text. Symbols, powers and other mathematical equations are not written as normal text.

You might have seen the ™symbol in some text. Do you know how to add these special symbols in PowerPoint?

What are Superscript and Subscript?

Superscript: If any text, characters, or symbols are written above the baseline, we call these superscripts. Particular citations, trademarks, and exponents are written using superscripts. (2)², (-3)² and Twistly™ are examples of superscripts.

Subscript: Text or characters positioned below the baseline are known as subscripts. Chemical formulae and mathematical equations use subscripts. H₂O is an example of a subscript.

How to Superscript in PowerPoint?

The effort to make a little change in the presentation may seem a waste of time. But in reality, the audience and viewers take these small details quite seriously. If you are presenting an important pitch in front of executive members, you cannot afford to ignore superscript.

There are two methods to superscript in PowerPoint. In this section, we will discuss the more detailed one first. By using this method, you can superscript or subscript any text in the presentation slides.

Method 1: Superscript Text from Home Tab

Before applying this method to superscript any text in PowerPoint, you should have a clear understanding of the concept.

You must superscript characters, numbers or symbols that have special purpose in the text. Follow these steps to use Home tab to add superscript.

1. Open a PowerPoint slide and highlight the characters or text that you want to superscript.
2. Navigate to the Font section and click the small arrow in the lower right corner.
3. In the new pop-up, go to the Effects box and check the Superscript or Subscript box.
4. Click Ok to apply the effect.

Method 2: Keyboard Shortcuts for Superscript

Professionals usually like to stick to keyboard shortcuts to perform different actions. It is the beauty of PowerPoint that almost all common tasks can be performed via top ribbon and also using the keyboard shortcuts too.

Using keyboard shortcuts makes your workflow smoother and faster. Here are keyboard shortcuts for superscript and subscript in PowerPoint.

Superscript: CTRL + Shift + = (Control key + Shift key + Equal Sign key)

Subscript: CTRL + = (Control key + Equal Sign key)

Method 3: Insert Special Symbol in PowerPoint

Adding special symbols or superscript and subscript via Insert tab is also possible. In this section, we will see how to add symbols, superscripts and subscript via Symbols option in PowerPoint.

Step 1: Open PowerPoint, navigate to the slide, and click the Insert tab

2nd Step: Click the Symbols section, click the Symbol icon, and a new pop-up window will appear

Step 3: Select the Font and select Superscripts and Subscripts from the menu.

Step 4: Choose the superscript that you want to add to the slide and click Insert.

These methods work for most users and almost all available versions of PowerPoint. You can either use the shortcuts, menu or insert options to add superscript to PowerPoint.

Why won’t PowerPoint let me Superscript?

Despite following these methods and steps, sometimes users face issues while superscripting in PowerPoint. Are you having trouble finding the issue with the slide or your software?

Well, this issue usually happens when users don’t select the specific characters. There is no use of superscripting an entire word or text. Check that you have already selected the specific characters before using the shortcut keys or the Font section.

Superscript not found in Symbols: If you don’t see the Superscript and Subscript items in the Symbol tab, you need to select the right font first. PowerPoint sets the Font to normal text for Method 3.

With default settings, you may not see the superscript option. Change the Font to Calibri or any other family to view all available options in the Subset menu.

Importance of Superscript in Presentations

Superscripts play an important role in the formatting of your presentation slides. When your goal is at stake, you need to use every available resource to impress the audience.

We have published tons of helpful material at Twistly Blog to help our readers with tips and tutorials to make their presentations professional and more attractive. Here is why we highly recommend using superscript and subscripts properly in the slides:

• Superscript is essential for mathematical and academic presentations
• Improve the visual professionalism of your slides
• Enhanced flow of information and improved readability
• Make your academic content consistent with the original content of the slides

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Conclusion

Easiest way to superscript in PowerPoint is to use shortcut keys but there are other methods with more flexibility and control. It is time to supercharge your PowerPoint presentations with AI and Twistly has all the features that you might ever need for PowerPoint automation.