WPS Office

Free All-in-One Office Suite with PDF Editor

correct-icon

Edit Word, Excel, and PPT for FREE.

correct-icon

Read, edit, and convert PDFs with the powerful PDF toolkit.

correct-icon

Microsoft-like interface, easy to use.

Free download

Windows • MacOS • Linux • iOS • Android

banner

How to put a line through text in Excel

August 1, 2022
4.1K Views

Without really eliminating something from your text, a line through your text can be a terrific method to visually convey that something has been erased, removed, or is no longer relevant.

A strikethrough is a horizontal line through text used to denote the removal of text from a draught or the erasure of an error. Understanding typical revision and editing symbols and acronyms will help you process the suggested changes if your work is professionally edited or proofed on paper.  Putting a line through text can also be used to distinguish between your ideas and unofficial facts that are universally known and official information.

Instructions in this article are compatible with 2016/2019/Mac/Online.

The Strike-through Format option

Select the text cell or cells through which you need to pass a line. In the Home button of the Main menu, there are a lot of option. The Format option has a drop-down menu from which you can use the ‘cell’ option.

This opens a pop-up wizard of Format Cell.  It has a lot of options; Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Patterns and Protection. Your concern is at the ’font’ section where there is a checkbox for ‘Strikethrough’. Click on it and the pop-up window shows you the preview of your text in the preview section. If the preview is not satisfactory, you can trace back your steps and detect a mistake.

Press okay to see the result. The resulting text has a line through it as per required. As indicated, this will appear once you print the spreadsheet as well.

The Ctrl+5 method

Select the cell where you want to apply the strikethrough format (or your target cell).

2. Now press Control and 5 key on your keyboard together. This is keyboard shortcut for putting a line through text and is a quick way to do so.

3. This shortcut to passes a line through you desired text.

The Ctrl+Shift+F method

This is a shortcut to open the Format Cell pop-up window. Just press Control, Shift and F key on your keyboard together after selecting the target cell. This method is a hybrid between the two methods mentioned above.

It has a lot of options; Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Patterns and Protection. Your concern is at the ’font’ section where there is a checkbox for ‘Strikethrough’. Click on it and the pop-up window shows you the preview of your text in the preview section. If the preview is not satisfactory, you can trace back your steps and detect a mistake.

Press okay. The text will have a line through it.

Did you learn about how to put a line through text in WPS Excel? You can follow WPS Academy to learn more features of Word Document, Excel Spreadsheets and PowerPoint Slides.

You can also download WPS Office to edit the word documents, excel, PowerPoint for free of cost. Download now! And get an easy and enjoyable working experience.

15 years of office industry experience, tech lover and copywriter. Follow me for product reviews, comparisons, and recommendations for new apps and software.