Add Subscripts/Superscripts

...or, the Support Chatbot is not omniscient

One of the (currently) non-existent features in the Substack text editor that I miss the most is the ability to add subscripts and superscripts directly into a line of text. Yes, I know that subscripts and superscripts exist in the LaTex mathematics editor, but I don’t consider it practical to insert a LaTex field in the middle of a sentence when all I want to do is say CO₂ instead of writing out “carbon dioxide”, or E=mc² instead of “E equals m c squared”. (heh)

“But Vito, you bozo…”, you say, “…WTF? You just entered the subscript and superscript twos! How’d you do that if the Substack text editor doesn’t include that feature?”

Simple; I’m writing this on my Mac¹, where macOS provides quick access to all the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters, including subscripts and superscripts. So, even though the Substack text editor doesn’t provide a subscripts/superscripts feature, the editor obviously supports the ASCII character protocol. It’s not a matter of Substack can’t add that feature to the editor; rather, they don’t want to, presumably because not enough users have requested it.

Alas, so far I’ve been doing most of my writing on my iPad, which doesn’t have the same functionality. But on the Mac, adding subscripts and superscripts is a snap.

Adding Subscripts & Superscripts In macOS

Here’s how I do it. I use the Control+Command+Space keystroke command, or choose Show Emoji & Symbols from the contextual menu in the menu bar…

…to open the Character Viewer…

…where I have already added all the numerical subscripts and superscripts to my Favorites category. Then I double-click on the character I want, and macOS inserts it into the text editor at the cursor location…et viola!, or possibly …cello!, as they say when they’re confused about French syntax—les subscriptes et les superscriptes existent! (Actually, my French fluency isn’t bad, just a little rusty. Voilà!)

What About iOS?

As it turns out, there’s also a way (albeit less direct) to insert subscripts and superscripts in iOS (it works for both iPhone and iPad)². You have to set it up using the Text Replacement feature in System Settings. Here’s a link to a YouTube video that shows how to do it — How to type superscripts and subscripts on your iPhone / iPad without a special keyboard³ — and there are many others.

The Substack Support Chatbot

By the way, I recently had a charming discussion with the Substack support chatbot requesting that a subscript and superscript feature be added to the text editor. The chatbot has been programmed to be ever so creatively polite in its various ways of saying “That feature doesn’t exist, but we value your feedback”.

Based on that experience, I am reasonably confident in advising that, if you discover that a feature that you want doesn’t exist, and you engage the Support chatbot in requesting that feature, you may do so with the full confidence that the chatbot will confirm that the feature doesn’t exist. In the nicest way possible, of course. 😎

1. Note to Windows users: I only use Windows rarely for some server admin functions, so I’m not as familiar with the system features as I am with macOS; however, I expect that you’ll find that Windows provides similar subscript and superscript functionality. Check Windows Help or search the web for instructions.

2. Note to Android users: Sorry, I don’t own or use any Android devices, so I can’t advise you from personal experience. But I did find this YouTube video: How to type Superscript and Subscript Number or Letter in Android Smartphones

3. Note re. older versions of iOS: The text replacement feature is either impoverished or non-existent in older versions of iOS. Forced obsolescence of hardware via software and vice versa is a fact of life. We don’t get to vote on it…well, except with our wallets, which is ultimately the kind of vote that counts the most anyway. If we get the other kind of voting involved—you know…politics—we’ll get the same outcome we always get with that method of “solving problems”; namely, the problem won’t be solved, and we’ll end up having more and bigger problems than the one we wanted to solve in the first place. No thanks.