Every year at Southampton Exam Factory we set our Year 12 students a project to write on an area of interest to them. The end results are wonderful in their scope and execution but why won’t they use the subscript and superscript buttons? It really grates on my nerves to see Pt(NH3)2Cl2 (sorry).
My colleague Ms. Lara Nude said one day, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a single button you can press which will activate everybody’s superscripts and subscripts instantly?’ So I made a macro to do exactly that, and put it on my Quick Access toolbar.
The macro first goes through the document looking for all examples of a number immediately after a letter, then subscripts the number. This will turn CH3CH2CH3 into CH3CH2CH3 but will also turn Mg2+ into Mg2+. So then it goes through again looking for all examples of a number with a + or a – after it and superscripts the number and the + or -. Since the macro will turn chemical nonsense such as Al3An2+ Ru2De2- into Al3An2+ Ru2De2– it will handle any real formulae and is better than macros which use a database. It is not 100% reliable since it does not know whether you want VO2+ to be VO2+ or VO2+. If you had intended the Alan Rude example above to be Al3An2+ Ru2De2– you would have to go back and change it.
The macro also lowers all subscripts by 2 points and raises all superscripts by 2 points – see my macro here for more details. It also replaces the standard minus sign with a longer one – see my macro here for more details.
After formatting the chemical formulae there is a message box and a beep – if you don’t like this just take out the last line of code, or change the message to one of your choice.
Sub SuperSubscript()
‘subscript all numbers
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “([ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTUVWYZabcdefghijklmnoprstuvwyz])([0-9])”
.Replacement.Text = “\1++\2++”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = False
.Subscript = True
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([0-9])++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = _
“([ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTUVWYZabcdefghijklmnoprstuvwyz])([0-9])([0-9])”
.Replacement.Text = “\1\2++\3++”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = False
.Subscript = True
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([0-9])++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
‘replace minus sign
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “-“
.Replacement.Text = “–”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
‘superscript numbers with + or –
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “([A-Za-z])([0-9])([+–])”
.Replacement.Text = “\1++\2\3++”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([0-9])([+–])++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1\2”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “([A-Za-z])([+–])( )”
.Replacement.Text = “\1++\2++\3”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([+–])++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
‘sort out hydrogencarbonate ion
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “(O)([3-4])(–)”
.Replacement.Text = “\1++\2++\3”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = False
.Subscript = True
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([3-4])++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([3-4])++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
‘sort out dichromate ion
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “(O)([1-9])([1-9])(–)”
.Replacement.Text = “\1\2++\3\4++”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++([1-9])(–)++”
.Replacement.Text = “\1\2”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
‘sort out thiosulfate ion
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = “(S)([0-9])(O)([0-9])(2)(–)”
.Replacement.Text = “\1\2\3\4++2–++”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “++2–++”
.Replacement.Text = “2–”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
‘lower and raise subscripts and superscripts
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Font
.Superscript = False
.Subscript = True
End With
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = False
.Subscript = True
.Position = -2
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “([A-Za-z0-9+-])”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
End With
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
.Position = 2
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “([A-Za-z0-9+–])”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
End With
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find.Replacement.Font
.Superscript = True
.Subscript = False
.Position = 2
End With
With Selection.Find
.Text = “(–)”
.Replacement.Text = “\1”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
BeepMsg “formatted by Big Al”
End Sub
Chemistry Word VBA macros 