Excel Strikethrough Shortcut: Ctrl+5 and More

In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, select the cell or cells and press Ctrl+5 to apply strikethrough; press the same shortcut again to remove it. On a Mac, use Command+Shift+X.

What the Excel strikethrough shortcut does

Strikethrough draws a horizontal line through the displayed contents of a cell. It is a font-formatting effect: the value remains in the worksheet, and the line does not delete, replace, or change that value. This distinction makes the shortcut useful for marking a task complete or indicating that an entry is no longer current while keeping the underlying information available.

In Windows Excel, Ctrl+5 is a toggle. When you use it on an ordinarily formatted cell, Excel applies the effect; using it again removes the effect. The shortcut works on selected cells, so it can format a single cell or a selected range. It does not mean “delete row five” or enter the number five. Use the number 5 on the main keyboard rather than relying on a numeric keypad, which may not send the same shortcut in every keyboard setup.

The line is formatting, not a special status stored in the cell. For instance, striking through a cell containing the text Buy printer paper leaves that text in the cell. Formulas that refer to the cell continue to read its contents normally. A person viewing the sheet can see the visual mark, but a formula does not automatically interpret strikethrough as completed, cancelled, or excluded.

How to apply it to one cell or a range

To mark one item, click its cell so it is active, then press Ctrl+5. To format several items together, select the cells first and use the same shortcut. You can select a continuous range by dragging across it or clicking the first cell and Shift-clicking the last. To select separate cells, hold Ctrl while clicking each one, then press the shortcut.

Click the cell, or select the range, that should have the line.
On Windows, press Ctrl+5. On a Mac, press Command+Shift+X.
Check the displayed contents. Repeat the shortcut on the selection if you want to toggle the effect off.

For example, in a household shopping list, selecting the cell that says Batteries and pressing Ctrl+5 leaves the entry in place but shows it with a line through it. If the batteries are needed again, select that cell and press the shortcut once more. For a list of completed jobs, you could select several completed task cells and apply the effect at once rather than formatting them individually.

Selection matters: Excel applies formatting to the selected cells, not automatically to every cell that looks related. If a row contains a task name, due date, and owner, selecting only the task-name cell strikes through only that cell. Select the whole row segment if the intention is to mark all those details visually. Before using the shortcut on a large range, check the selection border so you do not change formatting elsewhere by mistake.

Use the ribbon or Format Cells dialog instead

The keyboard shortcut is quick, but the ribbon provides a useful alternative if you forget it or want to inspect the formatting. Select the cell or range, then open the Font settings from the Home tab. Click the small dialog box launcher in the Home > Font group to open the Format Cells dialog. On its Font tab, select the Strikethrough option and click OK. Clear the option and confirm to remove the effect.

This route is especially helpful when you are checking a cell with several font effects or when you prefer to use the mouse. You can also open Format Cells with Ctrl+1 on Windows, then choose the Font tab and the Strikethrough checkbox. The checkbox expresses the formatting state directly, whereas the keyboard shortcut acts as a toggle. If a selection contains cells with different formatting, inspect the dialog and the selected cells carefully rather than assuming that a toggle will produce the same result in every cell.

Strikethrough appears alongside other font effects, such as underline and superscript, in the Font tab. It is separate from fill color, borders, and number formats. Turning on the effect therefore does not change whether a value is displayed as a date, currency, percentage, or text; it changes how the cell’s characters look.

Windows, Mac, and Excel for the web

The main instructions here are for Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows: Ctrl+5 applies or removes strikethrough. On Mac, the corresponding shortcut is Command+Shift+X. The modifier keys differ, so pressing the Windows combination on a Mac is not the right equivalent. If a Mac keyboard or another application intercepts the shortcut, use the Font controls in the ribbon or the Format Cells dialog instead.

Excel for the web also supports strikethrough formatting, and Ctrl+5 is the commonly used shortcut in a Windows browser. Browser and operating-system shortcuts can sometimes affect what happens when a key combination is pressed, so the ribbon is a dependable fallback: select the cells and choose the Strikethrough control in the Home tab’s Font area. The exact visible arrangement can vary with the browser window width.

Shortcuts can vary among spreadsheet programs, even when those programs use similar grids. If you are working in Google Sheets or another application, do not assume that Excel’s key combination applies there. Also make sure the workbook is open in the desktop Excel application if your instructions depend on a desktop-only interface; Excel for the web has a different layout, though the core visual formatting remains similar.

Common problems and how to fix them

The shortcut seems to do nothing. Click a worksheet cell or select a range first, then try the correct key combination for your platform. If it still does not work, apply Strikethrough through the Font controls to check that the selection and workbook are editable.
The line appears on the wrong cells. Undo immediately with Ctrl+Z on Windows, or use the application’s Undo command, then select the intended cells and try again. A shortcut acts on the current selection, which may include more cells than are obvious when the sheet is zoomed out.
Only some cells change. The selection may contain cells with different existing formats, or some cells may be protected. Check a cell individually and review the selection. If the worksheet is protected, formatting permissions may be restricted; ask the workbook owner or use an authorized unprotected copy.
The text looks unchanged. A narrow column, small font, or cell contents that are difficult to see can make the line hard to notice. Widen the column or inspect the Font tab in Format Cells to confirm whether Strikethrough is enabled.
The effect will not turn off. Select the affected cell and press the toggle again, or clear Strikethrough in Format Cells. If different cells in a range have different states, work on them separately or review them individually so the desired result is clear.

One common misconception is that strikethrough removes a value from calculations. It does not. A struck-through number is still a number, and functions such as SUM continue to include it if the formula’s range includes that cell. Likewise, applying the line to a formula cell does not stop the formula from recalculating. Use a real status field or adjust the formula when the data must be excluded from a calculation.

When strikethrough is useful—and when it is not

Strikethrough is a practical visual cue for information that should remain visible but is no longer the current choice. Examples include completed checklist items, superseded draft wording, discontinued products in a comparison sheet, or an appointment that was cancelled but should remain in a record. In each case, retaining the original entry can help readers understand what changed.

It is less suitable as the only way to record business status. Formatting is easy to overlook, can be removed accidentally, and is not inherently understood by formulas, filters, or data exports. If a team needs to count completed tasks or exclude cancelled orders from a report, add a column such as Status with values like Open, Complete, or Cancelled. Formulas and filters can then use that explicit value; strikethrough can remain as an optional visual aid.

For a small personal list, a line through an item may be all the structure needed. For a shared tracker with many users, agree on a consistent meaning and keep the status in the data itself. For example, do not use strikethrough to mean both complete and cancelled if readers need to tell those outcomes apart. A clear Status column can distinguish them, while cell formatting highlights the relevant rows for quick scanning.

Strikethrough compared with deleting or hiding data

Deleting a cell removes its contents, subject to the usual ability to undo or restore them; strikethrough leaves the contents in place. Hiding a row or column conceals a larger part of the worksheet and can make information easy to miss. Strikethrough is more restrained: the entry remains visible and can still be selected, copied, searched, or referenced by a formula.

These options serve different purposes. Delete data when it should no longer be stored in that location and you are sure it is not needed. Hide rows or columns when temporarily reducing what is shown. Use strikethrough when readers should still see the entry but recognize that it is complete, obsolete, or otherwise not active. For recordkeeping, retention rules or organizational policy may determine whether an old value should be kept; visual formatting is not a substitute for those rules.

There is also a difference between manually applying the effect and using conditional formatting. Manual strikethrough stays until someone changes the cell’s formatting. Conditional formatting changes appearance when a rule’s condition is met, which can be useful when a status value drives the display. However, standard conditional-formatting controls do not offer every font effect; if strikethrough is essential to a rule, verify the available options in your Excel version and consider a separate status indicator or another visual treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the shortcut for strikethrough in Excel?
In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, select the cell or range and press Ctrl+5. The shortcut toggles the strikethrough effect on or off.

How do I remove strikethrough in Excel?
Select the affected cell or cells and press Ctrl+5 again on Windows. You can also clear the Strikethrough checkbox on the Font tab of the Format Cells dialog.

What is the strikethrough shortcut on a Mac?
In Excel for Mac, use Command+Shift+X. If that combination is unavailable in your setup, select the cells and use the Font formatting controls.

Does strikethrough delete a cell’s value or remove it from a formula?
No. It changes the cell’s appearance only. The value remains, and formulas that include the cell continue to use it unless the formula or data is changed separately.

Can I strikethrough several cells at once?
Yes. Select the cells or range first, then use the shortcut. Review the selection before applying it, especially when the cells are in separate parts of a worksheet.

Why is Ctrl+5 not working in Excel?
Confirm that Excel is active, a worksheet cell or range is selected, and you are using the Windows shortcut. If a keyboard, browser, or application setting interferes, apply Strikethrough from the Home tab’s Font controls instead.

Try it: the Date Difference Calculator: days, months, years and weekdays between two dates, with the DATEDIF formulas.

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Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

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