On Windows 10, people could use the keyboard to type many characters but how to type special characters on Windows 10 is still a hotly discussed topic. New to Windows 10 and don’t know the way to type special characters? In that case, you have come to the right place. This article could show you what must be done to type special characters on your Windows 10 PC at will.
Typing Special Characters On Windows 10: Summary
Emoji Panel
- Step 1: Move your cursor to where you want to add the special character.
- Step 2: Press Windows + period (.) or semicolon (;) to open the emoji panel.
- Step 3: The panel is divided into three sections: emoji, kaomoji and symbols. The symbols section is further divided into sub-sections including General Punctuations, Currency Symbols, Latin Symbols, Geometric Symbols, Math Symbols, Supplemental Symbols, and Language Symbols. Locate the character to add then hit it.
Onscreen Keyboard
- Step 1: Right-click an empty space of your taskbar then pick Show touch keyboard button.
- Step 2: A keyboard icon should appear on the right side of your taskbar. Hit that icon to bring up the onscreen keyboard.
- Step 3: Select the Numeric keypad (&123) and once the numeric keyboard appears, choose the Omega (Ω) symbol to reveal special characters. Feel free to use other icons on the bottom of the touch keyboard to access more special characters and add them as you see fit.
Character Map
- Step 1: Press Windows key, type Character Map and hit Enter.
- Step 2: Go to Font then select your current font to view the characters available for it.
- Step 3: Locate the character you want to use, choose it, click Select and pick Copy. Last but not least, move your cursor to where you want to add the special character then press Ctrl + V.
MS Word
- Step 1: Open Microsoft Word (blank).
- Step 2: Look to the top, select Insert and choose Symbols.
- Step 3: Click More symbols, pick your font in Font and hit the subset of the symbol in Subset. Next, select the character you want to add then choose Insert. Keep in mind that from your Word document, you may cut the character and paste it to other places.
Alt Keys
In case you don’t know, it’s possible to use Alt keys to add special characters if you have memorized the set of numbers related to the character you want. However, that only works for keyboards with separate numeric keys. Also, you must ensure that the Num lock is turned on. To insert a symbol, move your cursor to where you want to add the special character, press and hold the Alt key then type the number combination.
Here is an example: to add the copyright symbol (©), turn on Num lock, press and hold Alt then type 0169. Visit the Alt codes site to view and note down key combinations of commonly used characters.
Windows 10 Typing Guide
- Install keyboards for multiple languages to access a wide range of special characters.
- While searching for smileys, press Windows key then type happy, sad and so on to bring up the smiley you want to add.
- To add symbols like a pro, memorize key combinations of commonly used characters.
- Use Alt + Shift to swiftly switch between keyboard layouts.
How To Quickly Open Character Map
To open Character Map quickly, you should create a shortcut.
- Step 1: Press Windows key, type Character Map, right-click it and pick Open file location.
- Step 2: Look to the top, select Home and choose Copy path.
- Step 3: Right-click an empty space on your desktop, hover your cursor over New and pick Shortcut. In Type the location of the item, paste the path you copied previously, select Next and choose Finish. Assuming that you don’t mess up, a shortcut of Character Map is going to be created on your desktop and you could use it to open Character Map quickly in times of need.
Special Characters Not Working: Troubleshooting
Usually, if you know how to type special characters on Windows 10, you should be able to add characters at your leisure. Still, you notice special characters not working, here is a solution:
- Step 1: Press Windows + I to open Settings, select Time & Language then choose Language.
- Step 2: Under Preferred languages, check the order of your languages. If your preferred language is not at the top, hit it and use the up arrow key to move it to the top.
- Step 3: After you finish, click your preferred language again then pick Options. Under Keyboards, determine whether a keyboard layout suitable for your language is used and apply changes if necessary.