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Superscript/subscript shortcut in Powerpoint Mac (Office 365)

Anonymous
2019-02-19T13:21:48+00:00

Hi. 

The shortcuts for superscript and subscript (cmd-shift-+ and cmd-=) are not working in Powerpoint Mac, even though these are the keyboard combinations noted in the Help file. Instead, they zoom in or out on the slide. Cmd-- and cmd-shift-- also zoom in and out, which seems unintended (that there would be two shortcuts for identical zoom behavior). 

Anyone know how to fix this? I am a chemistry teacher, so subscripts in particular are a huge thing and slowing down to click a button twice every other character is not workable. 

Same shortcuts do seem to be working fine in Word, so it's not an Office-wide problem.

Thanks for any help!

Brenda

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points
    2019-02-21T17:10:29+00:00

    As part of striving for parity between Office for Mac & Office for Windows Microsoft has been changing some of the keyboard shortcuts previously used in the Mac version. Unfortunately, this is being done without much documentation or notification, nor does there seem to be any coordination between the respective development teams. In fact, the PowerPoint Help for keyboard shortcuts doesn't even mention the assignments for subscript & superscript.

    Instead of Command use the Control key:

    • Shift+Control+= for superscript
    • Control+= for subscript

    If you continue to have a problem pleas be sure to include the Version & type of License for your Office installation which can be obtained from PowerPoint> About PowerPoint (or the equivalent in either of the Office programs).

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-02-21T03:15:29+00:00

    Hi Brenda,

    A couple of things we would like to let you know as we have already done some tests on our end.

    Our MacOs version is MacOS Mojave version 10.14.3

    On PowerPoint for Mac version 16.22 (190211), the superscript shortcut (CMD SHIFT +) is working as expected. The subscript shortcut (CMD =) does not work.

    On PowerPoint for Mac version 16.23 (190220) on Insider Fast, both shortcuts are working as expected.

    Update on 2/22/2019:

    We can confirm that Bob's suggestion to use the CTRL key instead of the CMD key works well on the latest version of PowerPoint for Mac. Please follow his suggestions to use the superscript and subscript shortcut keys.

    This means that the issue has been fixed and the update will come to the Production version in an upcoming update.

    We suggest keeping your Office up to date, and check back when version 16.23 has been released to the Production version and let us know if the issue still persists on your end.

    Regarding superscript shortcut, as you mention that it's zooming in, we assume you're clicking the EQUAL (=) key with CMD and SHIFT. However, because you're holding down CMD, SHIFT is not registered to trigger the secondary PLUS (+) function. This shortcut will only work if you have a numberpad on the right of your keyboard.

    We tested this and can confirm that this works. When you use the normal keys, what happens is that you are actually pressing only CMD and EQUAL (=), which will zoom the presentation.

    Regards,

    Sheen

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-02-19T16:24:08+00:00

    Hi Brenda,

    We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue.

    According to your description, when we tested at our end in latest and previous version of PowerPoint for Mac, we can see the similar behavior that you had mentioned in the original post. We will involve more resource to check this behavior and will let you know once we have an update.

    In the meantime, we suggest you use superscript and subscript present in Font group of Home tab.

    Thanks,

    Chitrahaas

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