{"id":4691,"date":"2025-10-28T10:53:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/?p=4691"},"modified":"2026-02-21T12:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:03:09","slug":"how-to-use-strikethrough-shortcuts-in-word-excel-powerpoint-google-docs-and-gmail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/how-to-use-strikethrough-shortcuts-in-word-excel-powerpoint-google-docs-and-gmail\/","title":{"rendered":"Strikethrough Text Fast: Keyboard Shortcuts for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Docs, and Gmail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Strikethrough is one of those formatting tools you don\u2019t think about\u2014until you need it constantly. It\u2019s used for marking completed tasks, showing revisions, indicating deletions without removing text, and keeping a visible \u201chistory\u201d of changes.<\/p>\n<p>This guide covers exact keyboard shortcuts and reliable alternatives for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plus Google Docs and Gmail, across Windows, Mac, and web where it applies.<\/p>\n<h2>What strikethrough actually does (and when to use it)<\/h2>\n<p>Strikethrough draws a horizontal line through text. Common uses:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>To-do lists:<\/strong> show something is done without deleting it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Editing:<\/strong> show removed words while keeping context.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Documentation:<\/strong> deprecate commands\/features (\u201cdo not use\u201d) while keeping them visible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Email workflows:<\/strong> indicate handled items inside a draft.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Microsoft Word (Windows &amp; Mac)<\/h2>\n<h3>Fastest strikethrough shortcut (Windows)<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Shortcut:<\/strong> Ctrl + D \u2192 then press Alt + K<\/p>\n<p><strong>How it works:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Select the text you want to strike through.<\/li>\n<li>Press Ctrl + D to open the Font dialog.<\/li>\n<li>Press Alt + K to toggle Strikethrough.<\/li>\n<li>Press Enter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This is the most consistent built-in method because Word doesn\u2019t ship with a one-keystroke toggle by default.<\/p>\n<h3>Ribbon method (Windows\/Mac)<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Select text<\/li>\n<li>Go to Home tab \u2192 Font group \u2192 click Strikethrough (the \u201cabc\u201d with a line)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Mac notes<\/h3>\n<p>Word for Mac often doesn\u2019t provide a universal, default single shortcut either. Your best options are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use Ribbon (Home \u2192 Font \u2192 Strikethrough), or<\/li>\n<li>Customize the Ribbon \/ Keyboard in Word settings to assign your own shortcut (ideal if you strikethrough frequently).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Pro tip:<\/strong> If you use strikethrough daily in Word, it\u2019s worth assigning a custom shortcut so it becomes a true toggle like Docs.<\/p>\n<h2>Microsoft Excel (Windows &amp; Mac)<\/h2>\n<p>Excel is the easiest in Microsoft Office because it has a built-in sequence that acts like a shortcut toggle.<\/p>\n<h3>Strikethrough shortcut (Windows)<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Shortcut:<\/strong> Ctrl + 5<\/p>\n<p><strong>Steps:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Select a cell (or highlight part of the text in the formula bar if needed).<\/li>\n<li>Press Ctrl + 5 to toggle strikethrough.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Mac<\/h3>\n<p>Many Mac Excel setups also support Cmd + Shift + X in some environments, but it varies by version and keyboard layout. The most reliable approach is:<\/p>\n<p>Use the Format Cells dialog:<\/p>\n<p>Select cells \u2192 Format Cells \u2192 Font \u2192 check Strikethrough<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best practice:<\/strong> If Ctrl + 5 doesn\u2019t work on your Mac, create a custom shortcut or use Format Cells for consistency.<\/p>\n<h2>Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows &amp; Mac)<\/h2>\n<p>PowerPoint behaves more like Word: no universal one-hit default shortcut across all installs.<\/p>\n<h3>Windows (consistent built-in method)<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Shortcut:<\/strong> Ctrl + T or Ctrl + D (depending on version) to open font options \u2192 toggle strikethrough<\/p>\n<p>The reliable workflow:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Select text in a text box.<\/li>\n<li>Open Font dialog (varies by build; commonly Ctrl + D in Office apps).<\/li>\n<li>Toggle Strikethrough and confirm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Ribbon method (Windows\/Mac)<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Select text inside a text box<\/li>\n<li>Home tab \u2192 Font group \u2192 Strikethrough<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Tip for presentations:<\/strong> Strikethrough is great for live presentations when you want to mark agenda items \u201cdone\u201d without deleting them mid-slide.<\/p>\n<h2>Google Docs (Web)<\/h2>\n<p>Google Docs has one of the best strikethrough shortcuts\u2014simple and consistent.<\/p>\n<h3>Strikethrough shortcut<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows \/ Chromebook:<\/strong> Alt + Shift + 5<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac:<\/strong> \u2318 (Command) + Shift + X<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to use:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Highlight text<\/li>\n<li>Use the shortcut to toggle strikethrough instantly<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Menu method<\/h3>\n<p>Format \u2192 Text \u2192 Strikethrough<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tip:<\/strong> Because it\u2019s a toggle, you can use it like a quick \u201cdone\u201d marker for checklists and collaborative editing.<\/p>\n<h2>Gmail (Web)<\/h2>\n<p>Gmail is the tricky one: there is no official, default strikethrough keyboard shortcut built into Gmail\u2019s composer.<\/p>\n<p>But you still have good options depending on what you\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n<h3>Option 1: Use formatting toolbar (fastest native way)<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Compose or reply<\/li>\n<li>Click the A (Formatting options) at the bottom<\/li>\n<li>Click Strikethrough (usually shown as \u201cS\u201d with a line)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Option 2: Paste strikethrough text from elsewhere (best workaround)<\/h3>\n<p>If you already wrote the message in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Docs (supports shortcut)<\/li>\n<li>Word<\/li>\n<li>Another editor with strikethrough<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2026apply strikethrough there and paste into Gmail. Gmail generally preserves rich-text formatting in the composer.<\/p>\n<h3>Option 3: Use \u201ctext\u201d if you just need a visual cue<\/h3>\n<p>Gmail doesn\u2019t convert Markdown to strikethrough by default, but many people use:<\/p>\n<pre><code>~~this~~<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>as a human-readable strikethrough indicator (especially when writing to technical teams).<\/p>\n<h2>Quick reference cheat sheet<\/h2>\n<h3>Word<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows:<\/strong> Ctrl + D, then Alt + K, then Enter<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac:<\/strong> usually Ribbon or custom shortcut<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Excel<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows:<\/strong> Ctrl + 5<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac:<\/strong> varies; use Format Cells if shortcut doesn\u2019t work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>PowerPoint<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows\/Mac:<\/strong> Ribbon (Home \u2192 Font \u2192 Strikethrough) is most reliable<\/li>\n<li><strong>Some versions:<\/strong> Ctrl + D \u2192 toggle strikethrough<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Google Docs<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows\/ChromeOS:<\/strong> Alt + Shift + 5<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac:<\/strong> Cmd + Shift + X<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Gmail<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>No default strikethrough keyboard shortcut<\/li>\n<li>Use formatting toolbar or paste formatted text<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Troubleshooting (when shortcuts don\u2019t work)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Laptop keyboards \/ function layers:<\/strong> some combos conflict with system shortcuts; try the menu method.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Different Office versions:<\/strong> Word\/PowerPoint shortcuts can vary by build and policy settings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Browser conflicts (Docs\/Gmail):<\/strong> extensions and accessibility shortcuts can override key combos.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac layouts:<\/strong> shortcuts can change depending on language\/region keyboard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strikethrough is one of those formatting tools you don\u2019t think about\u2014until you need it constantly. It\u2019s used for marking completed tasks, showing revisions, indicating&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5888,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions\/5888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolswift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}