Top 6 Easy Methods to Strikethrough Text in Excel (with Examples)

Excel Strikethrough Text

Strikethrough text in excel means a line going between the texts in an excel cell, to this we can use the format option of any cell by right-clicking on it and enable the option or checkbox for strikethrough which will draw a line to the text, there is also a keyboard shortcut to do it which is CTRL+5.

6 Different Methods to Strikethrough Text in Excel

Strikethrough Text using Shortcut Key
Strikethrough Text Using the Format Options
Adding Strikethrough Button to Quick Access Toolbar
Adding the Strikethrough Button to the Ribbon
Strikethrough Text using Conditional Formatting
Adding a Button for Strikethrough Using VBA

Now let us discuss each of the methods with an example –

You can download this Strikethrough Text Excel Template here – Strikethrough Text Excel Template

Method #1 – Strikethrough Text Using the Shortcut Key

Now suppose, we have a project. The steps for the project are given in the below image.

As we will complete each step, we want to Strikethrough the step, for this, the steps are so simple.

Select the cells, one or more using the Shift key with Up, Down, Left and Right arrow key and press Ctrl+5.

In our example, we don’t have a requirement to highlight only some part of the value in the cell, otherwise, first, we need to go into edit mode for the particular cell by double-clicking on the cell or using the F2 key and then select the text and then pressing Ctrl+5.
Press F2 to enter into edit mode or double click on the cell.

Press Ctrl+5 to strikethrough the text.

Press Enter to get out of the edit mode.

Method #2 – By Using the Format Options

Suppose, we have the following data for steps. We want to Strikethrough the value as we complete each step.

Steps are:

Step 1 – Select one or more cells on which we want to apply the Strikethrough.

Step 2 – Press the shortcut key Ctrl + 1 or we can right-click the selected cell(s) and choose ‘Format Cells’ from the pop-up menu.

Step 3 – In the ‘Format Cells’ dialog box, we need to go to the Font tab and tick off the Strikethrough option under Effects then, click on ‘OK’ to save the change and close the dialog box.

Now you can see the result as shown in the below image.

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Method #3 – By adding Strikethrough button to Quick Access Toolbar

To add the Strikethrough button to the Quick Access toolbar is one time set up, and then we can use the button from QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) whenever required.

To add the button to the QAT, steps are:

Step 1 – Right-click anywhere on the ribbon and choose ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar’ from the pop-up menu.

Step 2 – The ‘Excel Options’ dialog box appears. Now choose ‘Commands Not in the Ribbon’ for ‘Choose commands from’.

Step 3 – From the list, choose ‘Strikethrough’ and click on ‘Add’ button to add the command button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Step 4 – The up and down arrow buttons on the right side can be used to change the position of the Strikethrough button. We have changed the position of the ‘Strikethrough’ button to 4th on the QAT. Click on OK.

Step 5 – We can find out the ‘Strikethrough’ command at 4th place on the QAT. As the command is at 4th position, we can also use Alt+4 as a shortcut excel key to apply Strikethrough format to the selected text.

Method #4 – Adding the Strikethrough Button to the Ribbon

Strikethrough command is not available on the MS Excel ribbon by default. We can find out the same only in the “Format Cells” dialog box. However, we can add the same command on the ribbon too. To do the same, the steps are:

Step 1 – Right-click anywhere on the ribbon and choose “Customize the Ribbon“ from the pop-up menu.

Step 2 – Choose “Commands not in the Ribbon” for “Choose commands from” and select “Strikethrough” from the list”

Step 3 – Before adding Strikethrough command on the ribbon, first create the group using the “New Group” To create the new group, steps are:
1. Select the tab under which you want to create the group. (In our case, the tab is “Home” tab.)
2. Click on “New Group”.
3. Rename the group using “Rename”.

Step 4 – Now add the “Strikethrough” command in New group (My Format).

Step 5 – We can change the position of the group using the up and down arrow button on the right side of the dialog box then click ‘OK’.

Now we can see a new group “My Format” under the Home tab.

Suppose, we need to format some of the Text with Strikethrough.

To Strikethrough the values, steps are:

Select the cells which we need to format then, choose ‘Strikethrough’ command from the ‘My Format’ group under the Home tab.

Method #5 – By Using Conditional Formatting to Strikethrough Automatically

We can Strikethrough the Text in excel using conditional formatting also.

Suppose we have a task list, which we need to accomplish. We can update status for the task as “Done”, the task value will be formatted with Strikethrough, and font color will be changed to blue automatically.

To do the same, the steps are:

Step 1 – Select the cells to format.

Step 2 – Go to the Home tab, from the “Styles” group choose “Conditional Formatting” from that choose “New Rule” from the drop-down list.

Step 3 – Choose “Use a formula to determine which cells to format”.

Step 4 – For “Format values where this formula is true”, Specify =$B3=”Done” and set the format as below.

Step 5 – Click on OK for both the dialog boxes “Format Cells” and “New Formatting Rules”.

Now, whenever we update the status for a task as “Done”. The value is formatted.

Method #6 – By Adding a Button for Strikethrough Using VBA

We can also create a command button for the same using VBA.