How do I add strikethrough text in Google Docs?

Tips
1

I’m editing a shared document in Google Docs and need to show changes without fully deleting text, but I can’t find the strikethrough option anywhere in the menus or toolbar. Can someone walk me through how to quickly apply and remove strikethrough, and maybe share any handy keyboard shortcuts for it on Windows and Mac?

2

Quick way:

  1. Highlight the text you want to strike through.
  2. On Windows or Chromebook: press Alt + Shift + 5.
  3. On Mac: press Command + Shift + X.

That works even in a shared doc and is faster than menus.

If you want the menu path:

  1. Highlight the text.
  2. Click “Format” in the top menu.
  3. Go to “Text”.
  4. Click “Strikethrough”.

For tracked edits, also turn on “Suggesting” mode so people see what you changed.

Top right of the doc:
• Click the pencil icon.
• Switch from “Editing” to “Suggesting”.

Then when you strikethrough and type new text, others see the old text crossed out and the new text in green, with accept / reject options.

If you do this a lot, the shortcut is your friend. I always forget the menu path and spam Alt+Shift+5 instead.

3

If the built‑in strikethrough stuff still feels clunky, there are a couple of other tricks that work well in shared docs:

  1. Use Styles to fake “revision modes”
    Instead of hunting for the strikethrough button every time, you can:

    • Create a custom style (e.g., a Character style via “Format” → “Paragraph styles” → “Options” → “Save as my default styles”) that combines:
      • Strikethrough
      • Gray text color
    • Then you just select text and reapply that style whenever you want to mark something as “deleted.”

    It’s not as quick as the keyboard shortcut that @caminantenocturno mentioned, but it keeps your “change” formatting consistent and easier to scan in a busy doc.

  2. Pair strikethrough with color for clarity
    In shared docs, plain strikethrough can be hard to see when multiple people are editing. Try:

    • Old text: strikethrough + gray
    • New text: bold +, say, blue
      This works even if people are not in Suggesting mode, and it survives copy/paste to other tools more clearly than default suggestions sometimes do.

  3. Comment instead of only striking
    When you cross something out that might be controversial, immediately hit Ctrl + Alt + M (or Cmd + Option + M on Mac) to drop a comment explaining why you removed it. People tend to miss that “Suggesting” panel on the right, but they notice comments.

  4. Avoid relying purely on Suggesting mode in big groups
    Slight disagreement with the idea that Suggesting solves everything: in large shared docs, Suggesting mode can turn into a mess of overlapping edits. In those cases it’s sometimes cleaner to:

    • Make one “editing pass” in normal mode with manual strikethrough and color
    • Then summarize changes at the top or in a separate change log section

  5. Use versions for major revisions instead of more strikethrough
    If the doc is getting filled with crossed‑out text, it becomes unreadable. At that point:

    • Go to “File” → “Version history” → “Name current version”
    • Then clean up the doc (accept changes, remove old strikethrough text)
    • If anyone ever wants to see the old version, you can restore or compare it without keeping all that junk visible.

So: quick hit for your original problem is shortcuts / menu like @caminantenocturno already laid out, but for ongoing shared editing, combining strikethrough with styles, color, comments, and version history keeps the doc from turning into a graveyard of half‑deleted sentences.

4

If the shortcuts and menu paths from @hoshikuzu and @caminantenocturno solved the “where is strikethrough?” part, the next real problem in Google Docs is how to keep the doc readable while you’re crossing stuff out all over the place.

Here’s how I’d handle it differently:

1. Don’t overuse strikethrough for long rewrites
For small wording tweaks, strikethrough is perfect.
For big paragraph changes, I’d skip piling strikethrough on top of Suggesting mode. It quickly turns into visual noise. Instead:

  • Insert a short comment like “Proposed rewrite below”
  • Paste the new version clean under the old paragraph
  • Strikethrough only a short note: “Old version above kept for reference” and delete it once everyone agrees

This keeps the main reading flow clean instead of a patchwork of crossed-out sentences.

2. Use headings & sections as ad hoc “change buckets”
Rather than striking through right in the main text, add a small section at the bottom like:

“Proposed deletions / rewrites for Section 2”
Copy the original sentences there, apply strikethrough, and annotate why you want them gone. Then you can keep the body text mostly clean and still show history.

3. Combine strikethrough with structure, not just color
People often do strikethrough + gray text (which works), but I actually prefer:

  • Old text: moved into a small bulleted list under a “Removed” subheading, strikethrough applied
  • New text: left inline, formatted normally
    This mirrors a mini changelog and is easier to scan than multicolored text everywhere.

4. Decide team rules before you start editing
Minor disagreement with the “just use Suggesting mode” approach: if you have 5+ active editors, you really want ground rules. For example:

  • Strikethrough is for text you expect will be removed
  • Comments are mandatory for any removed sentence that affects meaning or scope
  • Big structural changes are discussed in comments first, then implemented cleanly (without keeping tons of crossed-out junk)

That avoids people interpreting strikethrough as “maybe” instead of “probably gone.”

5. Use version history instead of infinite strikethrough
Once a round of edits is done:

  • Name that version in “Version history” as something like “Pre clean-up edits”
  • Then actually delete the strikethrough text that everyone agreed to remove
    You still have the old draft safely stored, but the current document stays readable. Otherwise the whole file turns into archaeological layers of old sentences.

About the unnamed “product title” you mentioned
If you are using a dedicated writing or collaboration workflow alongside Google Docs, that “product” can help readability only if it enforces some structure around changes.

Pros:

  • Can centralize change discussions instead of scattering them in the margins
  • May provide better diffing and snapshot views than native Docs
  • Helpful if your team needs a semi-formal review process

Cons:

  • Extra tool to maintain alongside Google Docs
  • People may ignore its conventions and still overuse strikethrough in the main doc
  • Might duplicate features you already get from Docs version history

In comparison, what @hoshikuzu shared focuses on styling and workflow tricks right inside Docs, and @caminantenocturno nailed the fastest way to apply strikethrough at all. The angle here is more about when not to use it and how to keep a shared document from becoming unreadable while still making your changes visible.