strikethrough.text

Apple Notes on Windows and Mac

Strikethrough in Apple Notes Mac, iPhone and iPad

On a Mac it’s in Format → Font → Strikethrough. On iPhone and iPad, select the words, tap Aa and tap the strikethrough button. There’s no shortcut out of the box, but you can add one in a minute.

MacFormat→Font→StrikethroughNo default key. Add ⌘ + Shift + X yourself (steps below)
iPhone · iPadAa→S̶Select the text first, then tap Aa above the keyboard

Updated · strikethroughtext.online

On a Mac

  1. Open the note and select the words you want to cross out.
  2. Open Format → Font → Strikethrough in the menu bar.
  3. The line appears straight away. Run the same menu item again to take it off.

Apple Notes is one of the few Mac apps with no strikethrough key. Bold, italic and underline have ⌘ + B, ⌘ + I and ⌘ + U, but strikethrough only lives in the menu.

Add a strikethrough shortcut to Notes

macOS lets you put a key on any menu item. Use ⌘ + Shift + X so Notes matches Word, Google Docs and Slack:

  1. Open System Settings → Keyboard and click Keyboard Shortcuts.
  2. Choose App Shortcuts in the sidebar and click +.
  3. Set Application to Notes.
  4. In Menu title, type Strikethrough exactly, with a capital S.
  5. Click in Keyboard shortcut, press ⌘ + Shift + X, then click Done.
  6. Quit Notes and open it again.

If nothing happens when you press the keys, the menu title doesn’t match. Open Format → Font and copy the wording exactly as it appears. The same trick works for Pages, Keynote and Numbers, which are covered in the Pages, Keynote and Numbers guide. For every other app, see the strikethrough shortcut table.

On iPhone and iPad

  1. Double-tap a word, or tap and hold, then drag the handles to select the text.
  2. Tap Aa in the bar above the keyboard. If the keyboard is hidden, tap the selection and choose Format from the menu.
  3. Tap the strikethrough button, the struck S, next to bold, italic and underline.

Tap it again with the same text selected to remove the line. On an iPad with a hardware keyboard, the formatting buttons are in the same Aa panel; there is no strikethrough key there either.

Checklists are not strikethrough

When you tick an item in a Notes checklist, it gets a filled circle, not a line. That surprises people coming from apps like Todoist or Google Keep, which strike finished items through. You have two options:

  • Keep the circle and tidy the list. In Settings → Notes → Sort Checked Items (or Notes → Settings on a Mac), choose to move checked items to the bottom automatically.
  • Add the line yourself. Select the item’s text and apply strikethrough as above. The circle and the line can sit together, which reads well for shopping lists you share.

Shared notes and syncing

Strikethrough syncs through iCloud like any other formatting, so a line you add on a Mac shows on your iPhone, and people you share the note with see it too. It also survives exporting the note as a PDF.

What it doesn’t survive is a trip outside Apple’s rich-text world. Paste a struck line from Notes into a chat app, a social bio or an email subject and the line drops off, because those fields only take plain text.

Copying struck text out of Notes

For those plain-text places, use the copy-paste version on this page. Type your words into the box and copy the result. The line is built from Unicode characters rather than formatting, so it stays put in Messages, WhatsApp, Instagram and anywhere else. You can also paste that version back into Notes if you want a line that survives being copied out again.

Copy-paste version

For the places where Apple Notes formatting won't follow your text, like file names, chat apps or a social bio.

8 characters, 2 words
Ctrl + Enter copies the first result

Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded.

  • strikethroughB̶u̶y̶ ̶m̶i̶l̶k̶
  • short strikeB̵u̵y̵ ̵m̵i̵l̵k̵
  • wavy strikeB̴u̴y̴ ̴m̴i̴l̴k̴
  • slashB̷u̷y̷ ̷m̷i̷l̷k̷
  • long slashB̸u̸y̸ ̸m̸i̸l̸k̸
  • double slashB̸̷u̸̷y̸̷ ̸̷m̸̷i̸̷l̸̷k̸̷
  • strike + underlineB̶̲u̶̲y̶̲ ̶̲m̶̲i̶̲l̶̲k̶̲
  • strike + overlineB̶̅u̶̅y̶̅ ̶̅m̶̅i̶̅l̶̅k̶̅
  • underlineB̲u̲y̲ ̲m̲i̲l̲k̲
  • double underlineB̳u̳y̳ ̳m̳i̳l̳k̳
  • overlineB̅u̅y̅ ̅m̅i̅l̅k̅
  • dottedB̤ṳy̤ ̤m̤i̤l̤k̤
  • waveB̰ṵy̰ ̰m̰ḭl̰k̰
  • x belowB͓u͓y͓ ͓m͓i͓l͓k͓
  • redacted████████

Questions people ask

What is the strikethrough shortcut in Apple Notes?

Notes has no strikethrough shortcut by default. On a Mac you can add one: System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts, click +, choose Notes, type Strikethrough as the menu title and press Command + Shift + X.

How do I strikethrough in Notes on iPhone?

Select the words, tap Aa in the bar above the keyboard, then tap the strikethrough button (the struck S). Tap it again with the text selected to remove the line.

Why don’t checked items in my checklist get crossed out?

Notes marks finished checklist items with a filled circle instead of a line. If you want a line through them, select the item text and apply strikethrough yourself, or move checked items to the bottom in Settings → Notes.

Why does the line disappear when I paste my note into another app?

Strikethrough in Notes is formatting. Apps that only take plain text, like Instagram, WhatsApp statuses or a file name, throw it away on paste. The Unicode version on this page keeps the line because it is part of the characters.

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