HOW TO SUBSCRIPT IN GOOGLE DOCS?

INTRODUCTION

You must have seen the subscripted text or a number such as Log represented with a base or the valency in chemistry.

Subscript is the process of putting a smaller version of any letter or symbol lowered from the normal level of text input.  For Example H₂O. 2 is in the subscript format.

The most common example of a subscript is found in the Mathematics such as showing the LOG BASE or in Chemistry while writing the chemical formulae such as Oxygen as O₂, Sulphuric acid as H₂SO₄.

We also need this while showing the NUMBER BASE whether its binary or octal or hexadecimal etc.

WHEN IS SUBSCRIPT USED IN GOOGLE DOCS ?

SUBSCRIPT is mostly needed while we are working with Mathematics or Chemistry.

We require them frequently while working with chemical formulae or Logarithms or writing down any series in Mathematics where we give the numbers as subscript like

For example

H₂O is the chemical formula of water.

Log₂10 and Log₁₀100 are the logarithm expressions with different base.

Subscripts are also needed when we show any series etc. such as a1, a2, a3….

WAYS TO SUBSCRIPT TEXT IN GOOGLE DOCS

As we don’t have any direct option for subscript format in Google Docs, but there are a few ways by which we can add subscripted text in Google Docs.

Here is the list of available options.

The ways available are :

• MENU OPTION
• KEYBOARD OPTION
• GOOGLE
• UNICODE SYMBOLS
• REFERENCE SUBSCRIPT CHARACTERS READY TO BE USED.

Let us discuss all the ways one by one in detail.

SUBSCRIPT TEXT IN GOOGLE DOCS USING THE MENU OPTION

The easiest way to perform any task is to get the support from the application itself.

We are lucky to have the menu option available for making the text as subscript.

Follow the steps to subscript text using menu option.

• Select the text which you intend to subscript.
• Go to Format menu > Text.
• Choose SUBSCRIPT as shown in the picture below.

As we choose subscript, the text will become subscript.

The complete process is shown below.

SUBSCRIPT TEXT IN GOOGLE DOCS USING THE KEYBOARD OPTION

KEYBOARD SHORTCUT TO SUBSCRIPT IN GOOGLE DOCS

The keyboard shortcuts are always the fastest way to perform any task. Similarly we are lucky that we have as direct keyboard shortcut to make any text as subscripted one.

The keyboard shortcut for making any text as superscript is CTRL+, [CONTROL+COMMA]

Follow the steps to use keyboard shortcut to make any text superscript.

• Select the text which you want to make superscripted.
• Simply press Control + ,
• The text will be superscripted as shown in the animated picture below.

SUBSCRIPT TEXT IN EXCEL USING GOOGLE.COM

When we are preparing a report at our work, our task is to get the things done within the time limits with ultimate accuracy.

This method is fastest method of inserting a subscript in Google Docs , but we need to be cautious when using this method.

THE REQUIREMENT FOR THIS METHOD IS TO HAVE AN ACCESS TO THE INTERNET because we are going to use the GOOGLE.COM website for the search.

STEPS TO ADD SUBSCRIPT SYMBOL IN GOOGLE DOCS USING GOOGLE.COM

• Visit https://www.google.com. [ You can click here ].
• Type in the searchbox ” 2 number subscript”.
• Google will find its best result and the excerpt containing the SUBSCRIPTED 2 will appear somewhere.
• The following screen will appear. [ The results may vary as per your location, but it’ll be on the same lines. ]
  

• Look at the picture above.
• Copy any of the subscripted 2 and paste it in  your sheet but this process needs you to be a bit smart regarding the use of the subscript 2 from the google results.

USE THE RESULTS WHICH ARE OFFERED BY ANY WEBSITE CONCERNED WITH THE UNICODES. [ We’ll discuss it in detail later in this article ].

In this case, we’ll copy the use the first result and copy the subscripted 2 as shown in the picture below.

• After copying the subscripted 2, Paste it by pressing CTRL+V  in the Google Docs, wherever you want to use it.

The following picture shows the usage.

The example shown in the picture contains the subscripted 2 pasted by copying it from the google result.

We have tested the subscripted 2 by concatenating it with a text which is visible in the formula field and we can see that the brought symbol is working fine.

SUBSCRIPT TEXT IN GOOGLE DOCS BY COPYING UNICODE SYMBOLS

This method is the second fastest but safest method to use a SUBSCRIPT within seconds if you have access to INTERNET.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND ABOUT UNICODE:

As per OXFORD DICTIONARY , UNICODE IS

an international encoding standard for use with different languages and scripts, by which each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a unique numeric value that applies across different platforms and programs

This is the latest encoding standard which is being used on different platforms such as operating systems, web , email etc.

In simple words, UNICODE SYSTEM is the set of codes where we have given a  particular code for every character or symbol,  for example

A means 0041 [0065 in decimal ] in the UNICODE character system.

B means 0042 [0066 in decimal ], C means 0043 [0067] and so on.

Similarly there are codes for the numbers for example,

1 is 0031 [ 0049 in decimal ] and so on.

*THE CODES MENTIONED ABOVE ARE IN HEXADECIMAL NUMBER SYSTEM. THE DECIMAL EQUIVALENT IS SHOWN IN THE BRACKETS ].

As we already discussed that UNIQUE CODE or UNICODE for A is 0041. Now let us try to find out the UNICODE for small A i.e. “a”.

The UNICODE for “a” is 0061 [ 0097 in decimal]. So we can see that a small letter and a capital letters have a unique and different identification for the computing systems which makes these characters unique.

So is the concept of the UNICODE SYSTEM.

Another simple meaning to the UNICODE SYSTEM is that this code will be same across various platforms even if it is on web or software, which is the fact of our need for the time.

In this method, we’ll be taking help of other websites providing the help for the UNICODE NUMBER system or the UNICODE OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF UNICODE IS https://unicode.org

which contains all the Charts of many languages and character sets.

The site shows all the important updates about the UNICODE.

For our purpose of SUBSCRIPTS we are particularly interested in https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2070.pdf

[This is the chart for SUBSCRIPTS and SUPERSCRIPTS containing all the codes available.]

And good supporting websites which may prove helpful to us are https://www.compart.com

and https://www.fileformat.info.

STEPS TO SUBSCRIPT BY COPYING THE UNICODE SYMBOL FROM THE UNICODE CHART:

• Go to https://unicode.org

• Press CTRL+F on the browser , it’ll open the browser search.
• Enter Subscripts.
• It’ll take you directly to the subscripts table text.
• Click the link. [Direct link is given here https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2070.pdf]
  

• After clicking the link, a pdf will open.

• Simply find your required subscript.
• Select the subscript.
• Press CTRL+C or Right Click > COPY.

• Paste it in the Google Docs wherever required.
• The following picture shows the usage.
• The  subscripted 2 has been pasted after copying it from the table. The second line shows the concat formula to check if the subscript is working fine or not. We can see that the subscript was concatenated successfully.

STEPS TO SUBSCRIPT BY COPYING THE UNICODE SYMBOL FROM THE UNICODE INFORMATION PROVIDING WEBSITES :

• Go to https://www.compart.com/en/unicode
• As we reach the page of the link mentioned above, we’ll find the following screen.
• Simply enter the requirement in the SEARCH BOX at the top of the page.
• Enter “subscript” in the SEARCH BOX and press ENTER.

• Click the result of our requirement i.e. Subscript of 2.
• As we click the result, the following screen follows.

• Simply copy the symbol by selecting it.
• Paste it anywhere in the google docs.

STEPS TO SUBSCRIPT BY COPYING THE UNICODE SYMBOL FROM THE UNICODE INFORMATION PROVIDING WEBSITES :

• Go to https://www.fileformat.info/
• As we reach the page of the link mentioned above, we’ll find the following screen.
• Enter “subscript 2” in the SEARCH BOX.
• Click SEARCH.

• It’ll enlist all the results of available subscripts.
• Click the result we want i.e. Subscript of 2.
  

• After clicking the search , the following screen will appear containing the SUBSCRIPT 2 with different encodings.
• We’ll use UTF – 8.

• Simply copy the subscript 2, by selecting it and pressing CTRL+C or Right Click > Copy.
• Paste it anywhere in the google docs.
• The following example shows the pasted subscript 2.
• We tried it using the concat function.
• The subscript is working fine.
  

SUBSCRIPT UNICODE REFERENCE TABLE

The table has been created in Google Docs using the UNICHAR Function.

The same is pasted here and it can be used directly in our GOOGLE SHEET.

Copy the subscript under the SYMBOL COLUMN and paste it directly.

SYMBOL	DESCRIPTION	HEX CODE	DECIMAL CODE
₀	SUBSCRIPT ZERO	2080	8320
₁	SUBSCRIPT ONE	2081	8321
₂	SUBSCRIPT TWO	2082	8322
₃	SUBSCRIPT THREE	2083	8323
₄	SUBSCRIPT FOUR	2084	8324
₅	SUBSCRIPT FIVE	2085	8325
₆	SUBSCRIPT SIX	2086	8326
₇	SUBSCRIPTS EVEN	2087	8327
₈	SUBSCRIPT EIGHT	2088	8328
₉	SUBSCRIPT NINE	2089	8329
₊	SUBSCRIPT PLUS	208A	8330
₋	SUBSCRIPT MINUS	208B	8331
₌	SUBSCRIPT EQUAL	208C	8332
₍	SUBSCRIPT LEFT PARENTHESIS	208D	8333
₎	SUBSCRIPT RIGHT PARENTHESIS	208E	8334
ₐ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER A	2090	8336
ₑ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER E	2091	8337
ₒ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER O	2092	8338
ₓ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER X	2093	8339
ₔ	SUBSCRIPT LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA	2094	8340
ₕ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER H	2095	8341
ₖ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER K	2096	8342
ₗ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER L	2097	8343
ₘ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER M	2098	8344
ₙ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER N	2099	8345
ₚ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER P	209A	8346
ₛ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER S	209B	8347
ₜ	SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER T	209C	8348