Subscript
Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Addin → Group Text and Number → Menu Text ops
Command ID: btnSubscript
What it does
The command formats chemistry formulas and short maths expressions in the selection: a digit following a letter is lowered to subscript (H2O becomes H₂O, Ca(OH)2 becomes Ca(OH)₂), while charge signs +, -, * and their digits are raised to superscript (Mg2+ becomes Mg²⁺).
On a construction project this serves concrete admixture tables, water test results and cement composition sheets — anywhere chemical notation has to be presented correctly.
How to use
- Select the cells containing chemical formulas or short maths expressions — not cells with prose.
- Go to tab DVD Addin → group Text and Number → menu Text ops → Subscript.
- It runs immediately. Before formatting, the command normalises the content: all spaces are removed, then spaces are inserted around
+and=. - The status bar reports how many cells were processed.
Example
An admixture composition table and the mixing-water test results.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| H2O | H₂O |
| Ca(OH)2 | Ca(OH)₂ |
| CO2 | CO₂ |
| 1+1=2 | 1 + 1 = 2 (with index formatting) |
Notes
- The command changes the cell content, not just its formatting: every space is stripped and spaces are added around
+and=. Never run it on cells containing prose — the sentence would be squashed into one word. - Digits are lowered using the font subscript attribute, not the Unicode character
₂; copying to another application can lose the formatting. - Excel formula cells cannot take per-character formatting and are skipped.
- Ctrl+Z cannot undo this — test on a few cells first.
- Select only the notation column; avoid highlighting the whole table.
Related
- Superscript — raises the digit after
mfor units of measure. - Font Change — style parts of a cell's content separately.
- Remove extra spaces — the safe whitespace clean-up for cells that contain prose.
- Bulk find / replace… — correct mistyped notation in bulk before formatting.