Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Understanding Strikethrough Formatting.

Understanding Strikethrough Formatting

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 3, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


2

One of the character formats you can use within Word is referred to as Strikethrough. This simply means that Word shows a horizontal line through the middle of the character to which the attribute has been applied. Strikethrough can be applied either by clicking on the Strikethrough tool on the Home tab of the ribbon (in the Font group) or by choosing the Strikethrough check box on the Font tab of the Font dialog box (Ctrl+D).

A typical use for characters being struck through is in relation to the Track Changes feature of Word. With Track Changes turned on, characters that have been deleted are shown as struck through, although this depends on which view of your document view you are using. The characters that have been deleted may also be shown in a red font color in addition to shown as struck through, depending on which version of Word you are using.

Actually, Word has two types of strikethrough formatting. You can specify that something be struck through once or you can choose a double strikethrough. This latter character format, which uses two horizontal lines instead of one, must be applied from the Font tab of the Font dialog box. Simply make sure the Double Strikethrough check box is selected.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8061) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Strikethrough Formatting.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Squaring Table Cells

Inserting a table is fast and easy in Word. You may want to make sure that the cells in the table are as square as ...

Discover More

Copying Data without Leaving the Currently Selected Cell

Copying from one cell to another is easy when editing your worksheet. Doing the copying without selecting a cell other ...

Discover More

Microsoft Word Terrific Tables (Special Offer)

Word allows you to create and format tabular information using a powerful table editor. This can improve the appearance ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Replacing Quoted Text with Italics

If you have text surrounded by quotes in a document, you may want to remove the quote marks and make the text that was ...

Discover More

Adjusting Small Caps Text

If you use small caps text in a document, you know that there are several steps involved in properly formatting the text. ...

Discover More

Finding Missing Fonts

When you open documents that were created a long time ago on a system far, far away (sounds almost epic, doesn't it?), ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 4?

2019-09-05 16:42:43

Jay

The font version of strikethrough is totally unrelated to the Track Changes strikethrough in that you cannot change the advanced mark-up options (under Tracking > Advanced Options) of the font version, nor can you accept all changes and expect the font strikethrough to be removed.


2019-08-31 06:05:13

Øystein

Or by ctrl+5


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.