When working in Excel, you may wonder how to put m² in Excel cells so that it looks like metres squared instead of just m2. It is surprisingly easy.
- PDF to Excel conversions
- How to get the data and formatting of a PDF into the correct columns 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:
- Highlight the character you want to change (click in the cell and highlight the 2 in the example below)
- Click on the Font Expander (or you can push CTRL 1 for the shortcut)
- 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,
- Click in the INSERT ribbon,
- Click on Symbol
- 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.
Related
Shortcut to insert a symbol in Excel
Excel custom format millions with comma
Format numbers in thousands in excel