Strikethrough in Google Sheets: the shortcut and three other ways

To cross out text in Google Sheets, select the cells and press Alt + Shift + 5 on Windows, ChromeOS or Linux, or Cmd + Shift + X on a Mac. Press the same keys again to remove the line. The shortcut is different from Excel, where strikethrough is Ctrl + 5 (Excel strikethrough guide), which is why it catches out a lot of people who switch between the two.

Quick reference

Method 1: the keyboard shortcut

1. Click a cell, or drag across several cells. To select a whole row, click its number on the left; for a whole column, click its letter.
2. Press Alt + Shift + 5 (Mac: Cmd + Shift + X).
3. To remove the line, select the same cells and press the shortcut again.

The shortcut works on the whole selection at once, so you can cross out twenty finished tasks in one go.

If you would rather use the Excel shortcut

Google Sheets can also accept the shortcuts you know from Excel. Press Ctrl + / to open the shortcut list, then turn on Enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts at the bottom of the dialog. After that, Ctrl + 5 toggles strikethrough in Sheets as well. The setting is saved to your Google account, so it follows you to other computers.

Method 2: the toolbar button

The strikethrough button is the S with a line through it, next to bold, italic and the text colour button. On a narrow window it hides behind the three dots (More) at the right end of the toolbar. Select the cells and click it once to apply the line, and again to remove it.

Method 3: the Format menu

Go to Format, then Text, then Strikethrough. The menu also shows the shortcut for your system next to the command, which is a quick way to check it on a computer you do not normally use.

Cross out only part of a cell

You can strike through a single word inside a cell instead of the whole cell:

1. Double-click the cell, or select it and press Enter, so you are editing the text.
2. Select the word or words you want to cross out.
3. Press Alt + Shift + 5 (Mac: Cmd + Shift + X).
4. Press Enter or Esc to leave the cell.

This is handy for price lists ("€40 €32") or notes where only one item in a cell is done.

Cross out a row automatically when a task is done

For a to-do list, you can make Sheets strike through a row by itself when you tick a checkbox:

1. Put checkboxes in one column, for example column A: select the cells and choose Insert, then Checkbox.
2. Select the rows you want to format, for example A2:D50.
3. Open Format, then Conditional formatting.
4. Under Format rules, choose Custom formula is and enter =$A2=TRUE.
5. Under Formatting style, click the strikethrough button and, if you like, pick a grey text colour.
6. Click Done.

Now every row where the checkbox is ticked gets a line through it, and the line disappears when you untick it. The $ in front of A keeps the rule looking at the checkbox column for every cell in the row. If your checkboxes are in a different column, change the letter.

Why the shortcut does nothing

• You are on a Mac and pressing Alt + Shift + 5. On a Mac, that combination types a character instead of formatting the cell. Use Cmd + Shift + X.
• A browser extension or another app is using the same keys. Screen recorders, password managers and some keyboard tools take over shortcuts. Try the shortcut in an Incognito window, where most extensions are turned off. If it works there, an extension is the cause.
• Your keyboard layout puts 5 somewhere else. On some layouts, such as French AZERTY, the number row needs Shift to type digits, which changes the shortcut. The toolbar button and the Format menu always work.
• The cell is protected. If a sheet owner has protected the range, you can see the cells but not change their formatting.

Strikethrough in Excel and Google Docs

The same idea, with different keys:

Our Excel shortcuts cheat sheet and Google Sheets shortcuts cheat sheet list the other formatting shortcuts for each app, with printable PDFs.

Common questions

Does strikethrough change the value in the cell?

No. It is formatting only. A crossed-out number still counts in sums and formulas. If you want finished items left out of a total, use a formula that checks the checkbox column, for example =SUMIF(A2:A50,FALSE,C2:C50).

Can I strike through cells on the Google Sheets phone app?

Yes. Select the cells, tap the formatting button (the A with lines), and on the Text tab tap the strikethrough icon. There is no keyboard shortcut on a phone.

Will strikethrough survive if I download the sheet as Excel?

Yes, strikethrough is normal cell formatting and is kept when you download the file as .xlsx. Simple conditional formatting rules like the one above usually come across too, but check them after opening the file in Excel.