# Complete Reference on Ms Word Equation Editor Shortcut

Equation is an integral part of many technical manuscripts, including thesis and research papers. However, typing it in Ms Word is cumbersome and tiring task. To ease it, Microsoft Word has LaTeX type equation editor shortcut feature for typing equation. These equation editor shortcut as termed as Math AutoCorrect and are available in versions of Microsoft Word 2007 and above.

Equation editor shortcut has a potential to save a lot of time and effort. For e.g., to get Greek letter , you can type \alpha instead of going to Symbols in Insert Tab and searching for .

## Enabling Math Autocorrect

Most version of Microsoft Word, Math AutoCorrect is enabled by default. To ensure you can visit, File Menu → Options → Proofing → Autocorrect Options → Math AutoCorrect and ensure box against “Replace text as you type” is checked. These shortcut work only inside Equation Editor. However, if you want to use it outside Equation Editor, then check “Use Math Autocorrect Rules outside of math regions

How to enable math autocorrect outside math region in Microsoft Word

## Equation Editor Shortcut

Shortcut to get equation editor in Ms Word and Power Point is “Alt + =” (i.e. hold down Alt key while typing ‘=’). Although you can also click on “Equations” under the “Insert” Tab to get it.

Spaces is an important part of Math AutoCorrect shortcut. It tells Ms Word and Power Point when it is time to translate a part of equation into Mathematical Symbols/Operators. For clarity whenever necessary, space are shown as in Math AutoCorrect formula.

### Subscript & Superscript

Equation editor shortcut for subscript and superscript is _ and ^. Anything after _ or ^ will get converted into subscript or superscript respectively, after hitting space. To include space in subscript or superscript, group them in () or parenthesis. These grouping parenthesis don’t appear after Math AutoCorrect. Grouping is also important as it distinguish between and . While adding pre-subscript or pre-superscript, use \zwsp along with _ and ^ sign as shown below.

Use For Use For
A_circle<sp> r^2<sp>
A_(big circle)<sp> H^(2 square)<sp>
r^2_outer<sp> r^2_(outer circle)
\zwsp<sp>_c<sp> \zwsp<sp>^c<sp>R
\zwsp<sp>_c^d<sp>R \zwsp<sp>_c^d<sp>_e^f<sp>

Equation Editor Shortcut for Subscript and Superscript in Ms Word

### Letters

#### Blackboard Bold letters or Double letters:

Use \doubleXX, where XX is the required uppercase letter for e.g. use \doubleA for and \doubleR for .

#### Fraktur letters

Fraktur is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet. We can easily write it in Ms Word using \frakturXX where XX is an uppercase letter. For e.g. use Ms Word shortcut “\frakturB” for “ and “\frakturG” for ““.

#### Greek letter

Greek letter has 24 different alphabets. There are four distinct ways of typing Greek alphabets in Microsoft Word. Of these, Math AutoCorrect method is the easiest to remember and the fastest of all four. This method of typing Greek letters is as easy as typing its spelling after \ (backslash). To get lower case Greek Alphabet, type name of Greek letter after \ in lower case (for e.g. \alpha for ) and for upper case Greek Alphabet type name of Greek letter after \ in Title Case (e.g. \Gamma for ). You can also use Alt codes for typing Greek letters.

Name of Greek letter Uppecase Shortcut Lowercase Shortcut
Alpha A \Alpha \alpha
Beta B \Beta \beta
Gamma \Gamma \gamma
Delta \Delta \delta
Epsilon E \Epsilon \epsilon
Zeta Z \Zeta \zeta
Eta H \Eta \eta
Theta \Theta \theta
Iota I \Iota \iota
Kappa K \Kappa \kappa
Lambda \Lambda \lambda
Mu M \Mu \mu
Nu N \Nu \nu
Xi \Xi \xi
Pi \Pi \pi
Rho P \Rho \rho
Sigma \Sigma \sigma
Tau T \Tau \tau
Upsilon \Upsilon \upsilon
Phi \Phi \phi
Chi X \Chi \chi
Psi \Psi \psi
Omega \Omega \omega

### Scientific and Mathematical Symbol Symbols

Equation editor shortcut for scientific and mathematical symbols like infinity, different arrows, operators (like partial, del and nabla), conditional symbols, dot, cross, mapsto, perpendicular, set symbols, for all, equivalent, congruent, angle, proportional etc are given in the following table.

Correct way to insert multiplication and division symbols in Ms Word
Microsoft word shortcut for inserting division sign using Math Autocorrect

Symbol Name Symbol Ms Word Shortcut Symbol Name Symbol Ms Word Shortcut
Infinity \infty Hbar \hbar
Right Arrow \rightarrow, -> Left Arrow \leftarrow
Up Arrow \uparrow Down Arrow \downarrow
North-east Arrow \nearrow North-west Arrow \nwarrow
South-east Arrow \searrow South-west Arrow \swarrow
Left Right arrow \leftrightarrow Up Down Arrow \updownarrow
Rightwards Double Arrow \Rightarrow Leftwards Double Arrow \Leftarrow
Upwards Double Arrow \Uparrow Downwards Double Arrow \Downarrow
Partial \partial Nabla \nabla
Less Than Equal To \le Greater Than Equal To \ge
Double Less Than \ll Double Greater Than \gg
Times 𝑎 × 𝑏 a \times b Tensor Product or O Times 𝑓(𝑡) ⊗ 𝑔(𝑡) f(t)\otimes g(t)
Dot 𝑎 ⋅ 𝑏 a\cdot b O Dot 𝑎 ⊙ 𝑏 a\odot b
O Plus 𝑥 ⊕ y x\oplus y O Minus 𝑥 ⊖ 𝑦 a\ominus y
Maps To 𝑎 ↦ a\mapsto b Right Arrow with Hook \hookrightarrow
Dots 𝑎 … 𝑏 a\dots b Center dots 𝑎 ⋯ 𝑏 a\cdots b
Perpendicular 𝑎 ⊥ 𝑏 a \bot b 𝑎 ⊤ 𝑏 a \top b
Intersection 𝐴⋂𝐵 A\bigcap B Union 𝐴⋃𝐵 A \bigcup B
Big Square Cup 𝐴⨆𝐵 A\bigsqcup B Big U with Plus 𝐴⨄𝐵 A \biguplus B
Star 𝑎 ⋆ 𝑏 a \star b For All \forall
In \in Exists \exists
Big Wedge \bigwedge Big Ve \bigvee
Equiv \equiv Congruent \cong
Not Equal To \ne Approximately Equal \approx
Similar \sim Similar To \simeq
Natural Joint of Bowtie \bowtie Box \box
Subset \subset Empty Set \emptyset
Therefore \therefore Because \because
Plus or minus ± \pm or +- Minus or plus \mp
Angle \angle Proportional To \proto
Degree C 22 °C 22 \degc

### Accent

For various reasons you need to have an accent like bar, grave, tilde, dot (for denoting derivative) above symbol. We can easily achieve these using following word shortcut.

Accent For Equation editor shortcut
Bar x\bar<sp>
Double bar x\Bar<sp>
Under bar x\ubar<sp>
Double under bar x\uBar<sp>
Acute x\acute<sp>
Grave x\grave<sp>
Vector x\vec<sp>
Hat x\hat<sp>
Left-right arrow x\tvec<sp>
Left harpoon x\lhvec<sp>
Right harpoon x\rhvec<sp>
Dot x\dot<sp>
Double dot x\ddot<sp>
Triple dot x\dddot<sp>
Four dot x\ddddot<sp>
Breve x\breve<sp>
Check x\check<sp>
Tilde x\tilde<sp>
Left vector (or left arrow) x\lvec<sp>

Ms Word shortcut for Accents

### Grouping and brackets

Equation editor causes brackets (such as [], {} and ()) to grow to fit the size of expression within them. However, parenthesis used for grouping are not displayed in the final formatted expression. However, when parenthesis is required to be displayed, it must be doubled (one for grouping which will vanish in final formatted expression and other for displaying). Escape sequence (\ followed by desired bracket is used to prevent bracket from being reformatted.

To Display Use Comment
x/y / is used for fraction
[x/y] [] bracket automatically expands to adjust fraction
{x/y}
(x/y) Parentheses displayed as they not used for grouping
a/(p+q) Parentheses used for grouping (denominator here) are not displayed
a/((p+q)) Parentheses used for grouping (denominator here) is not displayed
[ a\atop b \close y
|(p|q|r)/(c+d)| Again parentheses used for grouping are not displayed
|a|b|x/(a+b) Grouping parentheses not displayed
\norm a \norm

Brackets and grouping equation

### Square root, Cube root, and more

Equation editor shortcut for square root, cube root and higher roots are \sqrt(), \cbrt() and \sqrt(n&x) respectively.

Symbol Equation Editor Shortcut
\sqrt(x)<sp>
\cbrt(x+1)<sp>
\sqrt(n&x)<sp>

Equation Editor Shortcut for square root, cube root & nth root

For more shortcut and example on root sign, visit our blog on Shortcut for Square root, and higher order roots

### Matrices

#### Empty Matrix

The basic equation editor shortcut for creating an empty matrix of custom size is \matrix(@@&&&). Matrix size decided by number of @ (for rows) and & (for columns) respectively. Number of @ and & symbol is one less than number of rows and columns, respectively.

Animation of fastest way to insert matrix in Ms Word using equation editor shortcut.
Speed comparison of Two methods to insert 4×4 or larger matrix in Microsoft Word

#### Matrix with elements

You can also create matrix filled with elements using above shortcut. Using this method, we enter elements of the matrix row wise, starting with the top row. Use & to move to the next column and @ for the next row.

Equation Editor Shortcut Output Matrix
\matrix(@@&)
\pmatrix(@@&) or (\matrix(@@&)
\Vmatrix(@@&)
[\matrix(1&2&3@4&5&6@7&8&9)]
\pmatrix(1&2@3&4@5&6)

For more details and example, visit our blog on different methods and equation editor shortcut for typing matrix in Ms Word.

### Piece wise function

There are two ways to insert piece wise function in using Equation Editor shortcut in Ms Word. First one uses \cases() method while the second one uses \matrix(). In both the cases, desired piecewise functions are entered inside the parenthesis.

Like matrix, @ is used as a row separator. To get only the opening curly braces ‘{‘ which automatically extends the height of piecewise function, use \close in place of closing ‘}’.

Equation editor shortcut Output Note
f(x) = {\cases(x,x>=0@-x,x<0)\close @ is used as row separator and \close is required to ensure opening { expands vertically to cover all cases
f(x) = {\matrix(x & x>=0@-x & x<0)\close Similar to above, & is used as column separator
f(x) = {\matrix(x & x>=0@-x & x<0) Piecewise function without \close Without \close, opening '{' doesn't expands

### Integral, Sum and Product

Shortcut for integral sign, sum and product signs are \int, \sum and \prod. You can use _ and ^ for inserting text below and above signs, respectively.

Equation Editor Shortcut Output Note
\int<sp>f(x)dx
\int_x=0^1<sp>f(x)dx _ for lower limit and ^ for upper limit
\iint<sp>f(x)dx \iint for double integral
\iint\below(S)<sp>ds use \below to put text below symbol
\iiint\above(V)<sp><sp>dV use \above to put text above symbol
\oint<sp>f(x)dx \oint for cyclic integral, similarly use \oiint for cyclic double Sum, integral
\sum_(i=1)^n<sp>A_i<sp> \sum_(i=1)^n<sp>A_i<sp>\sum for sum symbol and _ & ^ sign for getting text below and above sum. Parenthesis can be used for grouping text with spaces
\prod_(n=0)^N<sp>x^n<sp> Similar to sum.

Ms Word shortcut for typing Integration, Sum and Product

## Conclusion

Math Autocorrect shortcut provides useful shortcuts for typing most of the mathematical expression. They are often the fastest and efficient way of typing equation in Ms Word.

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