How to disable italics for units in microsoft word equation editor?

Dear @Roy Su,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your description, you wonder there is a way to prevent units (such as lb, ft/s, etc.) from being automatically italicized in Microsoft Word Equation Editor while keeping variables italicized.

In Microsoft Word Equation Editor, letters entered in math mode are treated as mathematical variables by default, so units such as lb, ft, or ft/s are automatically italicized.

Currently, there is no setting to automatically display all units in upright (Roman) text while keeping variables italicized. As a workaround, you can try format units manually by using:

• \text{} (for example: 10\text{ lb})
• \mathrm{} (for example: 10,\mathrm{lb})
• The Normal Text (abc) option on the Equation tab

For another example:

Instead of

v = 32 ft/s

type:

v = 32\,\mathrm{ft/s}

Result: v remains italic, while ft/s stays upright, which follows standard scientific and engineering conventions.

These methods will keep the units upright while preserving italic formatting for mathematical variables.

For reference Linear format equations using UnicodeMath and LaTeX in Word

If this feature affect to your workflow, I recommend you submit feedback through the Microsoft Ideas Community at Ideas · Community so that the product team can review user preferences. The higher votes, the more attention the related team will pay on. And a lot of the features are developed and improved based on customer feedback.  

I hope information above meet your expectations, please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

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