How to put m2 in excel

There are two ways. One is quick and easy, the other one is useful because Excel actually sees the ² as a separate character from 2 that is formatted to the correct look.

m² in Excel via Formatting

Below what the text looks like normally and with the superscript 2 (the word for little character next to a big character).

To achieve this you:

1. Highlight the character you want to change (click in the cell and highlight the 2 in the example below)
2. Click on the Font Expander (or you can push CTRL 1 for the shortcut)
3. Choose the Superscript option and click OK.

Now instead of m2 you will get m².

You can use this for a number of formatting options.

As shown below we can change the format of individual characters so that:

• the font size is different,
• change character colours for emphasis,
• make some characters bold or italic
• use a subscript for things like references or notes in Excel
• strikethrough characters.

Use the m² symbol

The other option is to insert the ² symbol. The benefit of using this method is that Excel sees this ² as a different character from a 2 that is formatted. This means that you can look for it, or use Flash Fill to change all m2’s in Excel to m².

So below, after the m,

1. Click in the INSERT ribbon,
2. Click on Symbol
3. Choose the ² and click the Insert button.

Although they look the same, the difference is that Excel now recognises the character and so something like Flash Fill can do a conversion.

So below, if I type what I want to see in cell B5, and click on DATA and then FLASH FILL it will convert all the m2’s to m² (this won’t work if you just format it)

Like this quick, to the point tip? Have a look at our free 'Excel in 2 minutes per week' series available on our social media platforms.

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