How to Strikethrough Text in Excel
(With Easy Shortcut)

Need something to cross out an item on a list?

Then you need the strikethrough format.

Adding strikethrough in Excel is super easy – once you know how to do it.

Let’s take a closer look at how to cross out text with the strikethrough format🔍

Adding strikethrough in Excel

Strikethrough puts a line through text (or numbers) in a cell, essentially “crossing out” text.

Because strikethrough is a type of formatting, you expect it to be next to the other formatting buttons on the ribbon.

But it’s not😖

Here’s how to find it.

Step 1: Format cells

Click the cell where you want to apply strikethrough formatting.

Then from the Home tab of the ribbon, click the Font Settings button in the lower-right corner of the Font section.

Format cells from home tab Excel

Step 2: Strikethrough from Format cells dialog box

The ‘Format cells’ dialog box opens, and you can select the strikethrough option from there, from the Font tab.

Format cells dialog box strikethrough option

Select strikethrough and click OK to apply strikethrough formatting to the cell content.

Excel strikethrough result

Cool, right?😎

You can strikethrough text but also any other type of cell content. It could be a number, currency, date, or anything else.

Is the above method a bit too cumbersome?

Then read on and learn the shortcut.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

Apply strikethrough format with keyboard shortcut

Like most useful features and functions, Microsoft Excel has a keyboard shortcut for strikethrough (as well as many other functionalities).

It’s Ctrl + 5 on Windows.

And Command + Shift + X on Mac.

Press those buttons, and strikethrough format is applied to the selected cell(s) immediately.

It’s that simple👍

Pro tip: Apply strikethrough formatting to multiple cells

Want to add strikethrough format to a lot of cells at once? Just select them all and hit the strikethrough shortcut.

Excel strikethrough multiple cells at once

Or use the format painter to click-and-drag your formatting wherever you want!

Undo strikethrough format

It’s easy to remove strikethrough from a cell.

Just select the cells you want to remove the strikethrough format from and use the keyboard shortcut:

Ctrl + 5 on Windows.

Command + Shift + X on Mac.

And it’s gone!

Without the keyboard shortcut, you can simply open the ‘Format cells’ dialog box and remove the checkmark in the strikethrough option from the Font tab.

Format cells dialog box remove strikethrough

Partial strikethrough formatting

The above methods add strikethrough to an entire cell.

If you just want to cross out a part of the text in a cell, do the following:

1. Double left-click the cell.

2. Select the word or words you want to strikethrough.

3. Use the keyboard shortcut to apply the strikethrough format (Ctrl + 5 or Command + Shift + X).

4. Or you can do it without shortcuts by opening the ‘Format cells’ dialog box and clicking the strikethrough option in the Font tab.

Excel partial text strikethrough

That’s it – What’s next?

Now that you know just how easy it is to apply strikethrough formatting in Excel, you can start using it more often.

Make to-do lists, monitor projects, keep track of employment records, and come up with your own creative uses for strikethrough📝

But strikethrough, and formatting in general, is a small part of Microsoft Excel.

Excel can do many other magnificent things such as automatic calculations, making decisions for you, speeding up your daily work, and joining data from multiple files in a few seconds.

If you want to get started with all that, you should enroll in my 30-minute free Excel training program that adapts to your Excel skill level.

Click here and sign up with your email address to get instant access to the course.

Other resources

Since you’re using strikethrough in Excel, I bet you care a bit about the overall look of your cells.

If I’m right, I highly suggest you take a look at how to remove formatting in general (including the strikethrough format).

But also how to format cells correctly to display numbers in a way that people can easily understand.

Also relevant for you is the ‘Format painter’ that I mentioned before. That’s actually also a way of copying the strikethrough format to other cells.

The keyboard shortcut for strikethrough in Excel is great – but Excel has tons of other keyboard shortcuts worth mentioning. Learn 7 totally underrated Excel shortcuts here.

Enjoy👋