How To Superscript In Google Sheets

Last Updated on October 31, 2023 by Jake Sheridan

How To Add Superscript In Google Sheets

Superscript characters are set slightly above the rest of the text and are usually smaller than surrounding characters.

They are used in mathematical equations to denote exponents (e.g. X squared is X2), or for ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc). Using superscript when applicable makes documents appear cleaner and more professional.

Unfortunately Google Sheets doesn’t support formatting characters as superscript, but we can get around this by using the Unicode superscript characters.

These characters are similar to emoji. They behave like regular characters but cannot be typed directly on the keyboard and always display as superscript without formatting.

Finding Superscript Characters

Superscript characters are available for all digits 0-9, mathematical symbols plus, minus, equals and open and close parentheses, and all lowercase except the letter Q.

There are also uppercase letters available, but the uppercase superscript set is missing C, F, Q, S, X, Y, and Z.

Any of these characters can be found by searching the internet.

For example, if you want a superscript digit 2, search for “superscript 2”. Or you can use the characters listed here or in the linked spreadsheet:

Digits:

⁰ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹

Mathematical Signs:

⁺ ⁻ ⁼ ⁽ ⁾

Lowercase Letters:

ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ ᵈ ᵉ ᶠ ᵍ ʰ ⁱ ʲ ᵏ ˡ ᵐ ⁿ ᵒ ᵖ ʳ ˢ ᵗ ᵘ ᵛ ʷ ˣ ʸ ᶻ

Uppercase Letters:

ᴬ ᴮ ᴰ ᴱ ᴳ ᴴ ᴵ ᴶ ᴷ ᴸ ᴹ ᴺ ᴼ ᴾ ᴿ ᵀ ᵁ ⱽ ᵂ

Additionally, there are a collection of other superscript characters that are less frequently used, which you can search the internet for if you need them.

Copy/Pasting Superscript Characters

Once you’ve located the superscript character(s) you want to use, you can add them to your spreadsheet by copy/pasting them. Here’s how:

Step 1

Highlight the character (or characters) you want to use and press Ctrl + C on Windows or Command + C on Mac to copy that character

Step 2

Open your Google Sheet and double click on the cell you want to add superscript to enter edit mode

Step 3

If you already have text in the cell, click the location in the existing text where you want to insert the superscript character. The flashing text cursor should appear at the desired location

Step 4

Press Ctrl + V on Windows or Command + V on Mac to paste the character you copied in Step 1

Step 5

Repeat Steps 1-4 as many times as needed to insert all the desired superscript characters. You can insert any number or combination of superscript characters into any number of cells in your spreadsheet.

If you need to delete superscript characters later, they can be deleted just like regular characters using the backspace or delete keys on your keyboard

Summary

Example Spreadsheet: Make a copy of the example spreadsheet

In this tutorial, I covered how to superscript in Google Sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.