How to Add Strikethrough in Excel: Every Method Explained

Strikethrough is one of those formatting options that Excel buries just enough to trip people up. Unlike bold or italic, there's no toolbar button for it by default — which means most users either stumble onto the keyboard shortcut by accident or go hunting through menus. Here's a complete breakdown of every reliable way to apply strikethrough in Excel, plus what to consider depending on how you're working.

What Strikethrough Does in Excel

Strikethrough draws a horizontal line through the middle of cell text — like ~~this~~. It's commonly used to mark completed tasks in to-do lists, flag deprecated values without deleting them, or visually indicate that a data point is no longer valid while keeping the original content visible. Unlike deleting data, strikethrough preserves what was there, which matters in audit trails, shared workbooks, and project tracking sheets.

It's purely a visual formatting change — it doesn't affect the cell's value, formula results, or how other cells reference it.

Method 1: The Keyboard Shortcut (Fastest)

The quickest way to apply strikethrough on Windows is:

Ctrl + 5

Select the cell or cells you want to format, press that shortcut, and strikethrough toggles on immediately. Press it again to remove it.

On Mac, the equivalent shortcut is:

⌘ + Shift + X

This works whether you've selected full cells or just highlighted specific text within a cell. If you only want part of a cell's content struck through — say, one word in a sentence — double-click the cell to enter edit mode, highlight just that text, then apply the shortcut.

Method 2: Format Cells Dialog

If you prefer menus, or you want to apply strikethrough alongside other formatting changes in one step:

1. Select the cell(s) you want to format
2. Right-click and choose Format Cells, or press Ctrl + 1 (Windows) / ⌘ + 1 (Mac)
3. Go to the Font tab
4. Under Effects, check the Strikethrough box
5. Click OK

This dialog also lets you combine strikethrough with font color changes, double strikethrough (available here but not via the shortcut), or other text effects simultaneously — useful when you're applying multiple formatting changes at once.

Double Strikethrough: A Less-Known Variant

Inside the Format Cells dialog, you'll also find Double Strikethrough — two lines through the text instead of one. This isn't accessible via keyboard shortcut and has no toolbar button anywhere by default. It's rarely used in practice, but it exists for situations where visual distinction between "soft" and "hard" deletions matters in a document.

Method 3: Add a Strikethrough Button to the Quick Access Toolbar 🛠️

If you use strikethrough frequently, adding a dedicated button saves time:

1. Click the small dropdown arrow at the top of the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)
2. Select More Commands
3. In the "Choose commands from" dropdown, select All Commands
4. Scroll down and find Strikethrough
5. Click Add, then OK

The button will now appear in your toolbar permanently. One click applies or removes strikethrough on selected cells. This is a per-installation setting, so it won't carry over if you switch machines or use Excel on the web.

Method 4: Add It to the Ribbon

For users who find the QAT too small or prefer the ribbon:

1. Right-click anywhere on the ribbon and select Customize the Ribbon
2. Create a new custom group within an existing tab (you can't add commands to built-in groups)
3. Find Strikethrough under All Commands and add it to your custom group
4. Click OK

This approach takes a few extra steps to set up but keeps strikethrough visible alongside related formatting commands.

Method 5: Conditional Formatting with Strikethrough

For dynamic spreadsheets — particularly task trackers or project management sheets — you can set strikethrough to apply automatically based on a cell's value. ✅

For example, if column B contains checkboxes or status values, you can create a rule that strikes through the text in column A whenever B is marked "Done" or TRUE.

To set this up:

1. Select the cells you want to auto-format
2. Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule
3. Choose Use a formula to determine which cells to format
4. Enter a formula referencing your trigger cell (e.g., =$B2=TRUE)
5. Click Format, go to the Font tab, check Strikethrough, and confirm

This makes strikethrough behave as live feedback rather than manual formatting — the line appears and disappears as data changes.

How Platform and Version Affect Your Options

Excel for the Web has the most constraints — strikethrough is accessible through the Format Cells pane, but keyboard shortcuts and toolbar customization aren't supported. If your workflow runs primarily through a browser, you'll rely on the format panel rather than shortcuts.

Variables That Shape Your Approach

Which method makes sense depends on a few factors specific to how you work:

• Frequency of use — occasional users may never need more than the keyboard shortcut, while daily users benefit from a QAT button
• Static vs. dynamic data — manually applied strikethrough works fine for fixed lists; conditional formatting is more appropriate when data updates regularly
• Collaboration context — in shared workbooks, visually marking data without deleting it keeps a clear record, but teammates need to understand the formatting convention
• Platform — desktop Excel offers the full toolkit; browser and mobile versions have meaningful gaps
• Partial vs. whole-cell formatting — striking through part of a cell's text requires entering edit mode, which changes the behavior of shortcuts and conditional formatting (which can only format entire cells)

The right method isn't the same for someone managing a personal task list in desktop Excel as it is for someone maintaining a shared data log through a browser or collaborating across Mac and Windows environments.