How to Insert Symbols and Special Characters in Word
To insert symbols or special characters in Word, choose Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Select the font and character range, then insert the symbol as text that you can resize and recolor.
This guide covers the desktop version of Word for Windows. Menu names and positions can differ between versions.
Insert a symbol
- Place the cursor where the symbol belongs and open Insert.
- Choose Symbol → More Symbols.
- Select the character and choose Insert. Close the dialog after inserting the characters you need.
Find a symbol that is not visible
Changing the Font changes the available character set. When a Subset option appears, narrow the list to a useful range such as mathematical or currency symbols. Similar-looking symbols can have different character codes and font dependencies.
Wingdings, Wingdings 2, and Wingdings 3 contain many picture-like symbols. They are font-based characters, so changing fonts or opening the file in an environment without the font can affect their appearance. Check the result rather than treating them as embedded pictures.
Change size or color and share the document
Select the inserted symbol and use Home to adjust its font size or color. If it does not align with surrounding text, inspect both its font and size. To preserve the appearance when sharing, check font embedding restrictions or inspect the result of exporting the document to PDF.
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