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VBA To Remove/Delete Superscripts From Excel Cell Text

By Chris Newman •  Updated: 01/24/19 •  5 min read
VBA To Remove/Delete Superscripts From Excel Cell Text

What This VBA Code Does

I have run into a couple of instances recently where I needed to clean up some text within Excel by removing superscripts. Unfortunately, the best way to do this is to loop through each character of text within your cells. Below are a couple of examples of how you can manipulate the Superscript property to toggle it on/off.

VBA Code To Delete Superscripts:

Sub SuperScript_Delete()
'PURPOSE: Delete any superscripts from the text within a cell selection

Dim cell As Range
Dim x As Long

'Ensure a cell range is selected
  If TypeName(Selection) <> "Range" Then Exit Sub

'Optimize Code
  Application.ScreenUpdating = False

'Loop through each cell in User's Selection
  For Each cell In Selection.Cells
    
    'Loop through each character in cell value
      For x = 1 To Len(cell.Value)
        
        'Test the character for the superscript property
          If cell.Characters(x, 1).Font.Superscript = True Then
            cell.Characters(x, 1).Delete
            x = x - 1
          End If
      
      Next x
  
  Next cell

End Sub

VBA Code To Remove Superscripts:

This is a very similar variation of the first VBA macro, however, in this code snippet, we will not remove the superscript character. Instead, we will be removing the superscript property (ie making if FALSE) in order to change the respective character back to its “normal” size.

Sub SuperScript_Remove()
'PURPOSE: Remove any superscript formatting from the text within a cell selection

Dim cell As Range
Dim x As Long

'Ensure a cell range is selected
  If TypeName(Selection) <> "Range" Then Exit Sub

'Optimize Code
  Application.ScreenUpdating = False

'Loop through each cell in User's Selection
  For Each cell In Selection.Cells
    
    'Loop through each character in cell value
      For x = 1 To Len(cell.Value)
        
        'Test the character for the superscript property
          If cell.Characters(x, 1).Font.Superscript = True Then
            cell.Characters(x, 1).Font.Superscript = False
          End If
      
      Next x
  
  Next cell

End Sub

Using VBA Code Found On The Internet

Now that you’ve found some VBA code that could potentially solve your Excel automation problem, what do you do with it? If you don’t necessarily want to learn how to code VBA and are just looking for the fastest way to implement this code into your spreadsheet, I wrote an article (with video) that explains how to get the VBA code you’ve found running on your spreadsheet.

Getting Started Automating Excel

Are you new to VBA and not sure where to begin? Check out my quickstart guide to learning VBA. This article won’t overwhelm you with fancy coding jargon, as it provides you with a simplistic and straightforward approach to the basic things I wish I knew when trying to teach myself how to automate tasks in Excel with VBA Macros.

Also, if you haven’t checked out Excel’s latest automation feature called Power Query, I have put together a beginner’s guide for automating with Excel’s Power Query feature as well! This little-known built-in Excel feature allows you to merge and clean data automatically with little to no coding!

How Do I Modify This To Fit My Specific Needs?

Chances are this post did not give you the exact answer you were looking for. We all have different situations and it’s impossible to account for every particular need one might have. That’s why I want to share with you: My Guide to Getting the Solution to your Problems FAST! In this article, I explain the best strategies I have come up with over the years to get quick answers to complex problems in Excel, PowerPoint, VBA, you name it

I highly recommend that you check this guide out before asking me or anyone else in the comments section to solve your specific problem. I can guarantee that 9 times out of 10, one of my strategies will get you the answer(s) you are needing faster than it will take me to get back to you with a possible solution. I try my best to help everyone out, but sometimes I don’t have time to fit everyone’s questions in (there never seem to be quite enough hours in the day!).

I wish you the best of luck and I hope this tutorial gets you heading in the right direction!

Keep Learning

Chris Newman

Chris Newman

Chris is a finance professional and Excel MVP recognized by Microsoft since 2016. With his expertise, he founded TheSpreadsheetGuru blog to help fellow Excel users, where he shares his vast creative solutions & expertise. In addition, he has developed over 7 widely-used Excel Add-ins that have been embraced by individuals and companies worldwide.

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