Wondering how to add a subscript in Google Docs? For example, if you look at the chemical name of water it is H2O and the right way to write is to subscript “2” so it looks like this: H2O.
Now you might be wondering how do we take that “2” down to a subscript. Well good news, we have the answer here.
What is a subscript?
Abbreviated as ‘sub’, subscript refers to words or characters that are half the height of a standard character and printed lower than other text. I bet you’re thinking why do you even need to subscript? It depends on when you need it.
Usually you would need it for mathematical text, chemical formulas, or something as simple as dates.
Actually the quickest way to set a character as subscript is to use the keyboard shortcut. But we suggest creating subscript using the menu.
Add subscript in Google Docs via Menu
To do this first please select/highlight the text and then look for Format > Text > Subscript to get the job done.

There is a shortcut too that saves you time.
For Windows it’s Ctrl + , (comma) and for Mac it’s Command + , (comma).
You can use the shortcut again to rollback to the previous state.
Add subscript via Special Characters
You can add subscript in Google Docs using Special Characters from the menu
Click on Insert > Special Characters. In the special characters window, enter “subscript” in the search field.


The best use of subscript is when you are trying to show an expression for a chemical formula. However, subscripts can be used pretty much anywhere.
Looking for other quick tips on Google Docs? We have a guide on word count, how to delete a page and many more.
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