Emoji Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 11: A Complete Guide

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Find emojis and symbols anywhere on your computer

Co-authored by Glenn Carreau Reviewed by Stan Kats

Last Updated: January 26, 2026 Fact Checked

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Windows Emoji Keyboard Shortcut

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Touch Keyboard

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Other Emoji Shortcuts

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Finding Specific Emojis

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Adding Symbols

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More Shortcuts

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Are you tired of looking up emojis to copy and paste—and taking way too long to do it? We’ve got the perfect time-saver for Windows users: a quick keyboard shortcut that’ll pull up the entire emoji library for you to use. In this article, we’ll show you how to open and use the Windows emoji keyboard, plus other handy ways to find emojis, GIFs, and symbols in just a couple of clicks. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Quick Steps for the Windows 11 Emoji Shortcut

Press Windows key + . (period) or Windows key + ; (semicolon).
Select the Emoji tab (which looks like a smiley face).
Scroll through the emojis and click on the one you want to add to the text.
Close the emoji keyboard by clicking anywhere outside of it on the screen.

Section 1 of 6:

Using the Windows Emoji Keyboard Shortcut

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or ⊞ Win+; to open the emoji picker. Anytime you’re entering somewhere on your Windows computer, simply press the Windows key + . (period) or the Windows key + ; (semicolon). Either shortcut will open the Windows emoji picker keyboard.^{[1]
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Search for an emoji and click to select one. Click on the Emoji tab at the top of the emoji keyboard’s window (it looks like a black-and-white smiley face) and scroll through the emojis there. When you find one you want to paste into the document or text field, just click on the emoji you want!^{[2]
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- While you’re looking, you can use your mouse, touchpad, or the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through each emoji category.
- When you highlight an emoji, you can press Enter to paste it into your text (as an alternative to clicking on it).
- You can also use the search bar at the top of the window to find a particular emoji.
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Close the emoji picker (and reopen it anytime). Simply click anywhere outside the emoji keyboard window on your screen or press the ESC key, and it’ll close immediately. You can use the same shortcut to open the emoji picker keyboard up again—anytime you need it!
- The emoji keyboard has more than just modern emojis.
- You can elect the ;-) (Kaomoji) tab for classic ASCII emoticons to copy and paste.
- Additionally, select the GIF tab for a selection of animated GIFs to copy and paste.

Section 2 of 6:

Adding Emojis via the Touch Keyboard in Windows 11

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Open your Taskbar settings. If you want a bigger keyboard with which to search for and paste emojis, you can enable it in the Windows settings. To begin, right-click on the Windows taskbar (the bar at the bottom of the screen in Windows) and select Taskbar settings from the menu that appears.^{[3]
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- This will open up your Windows settings—specifically to the Personalization > Taskbar page.
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Set the Touch keyboard option to “Always.” On the Personalization > Taskbar page, scroll down to the Touch keyboard setting. Click on the dropdown menu to the right and select Always (generally, “When no keyboard attached” is enabled by default).^{[4]
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- This will enable the Windows touch keyboard. If you don’t have a touch screen, you’ll still have to use your mouse and touchpad to navigate it!
Now, you can close out the settings window and look at the bottom of the screen, in the right corner of the taskbar; there should be a keyboard icon there, now. Click on that little keyboard to open the Windows touch keyboard.
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Open the keyboard’s emoji display. Click on the emoji icon at the top-left corner of the touch keyboard, which looks like a smiley face with a + (plus) sign over it. Select the emoji tab (which again looks like a smiley face) to scroll through the different emojis; then, just select the emoji(s) you want to paste!
- Hit the X at the top-right corner of the touch keyboard to close it. Alternatively, you can just type on your regular keyboard and it’ll close automatically.

Section 3 of 6:

Emoji Shortcuts on Other Operating Systems

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We’ve shown you how to find and open the emoji keyboard on Windows 11—but is this a function that’s available on other versions of Windows, or even macOS? For the most part, the answer is yes; in fact, Windows 10 uses the same shortcut as Windows 11. Find your operating system below to see if there’s a corresponding emoji keyboard shortcut (and what it is, if available):
- Windows 10: Windows key + . (period)
- Windows 8: Windows key + . (period)
- Windows 7: No emoji shortcut available
- macOS: Control + Command + Space

Section 4 of 6:

Finding Program-Specific Emojis

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Note that this won’t work for every program that you can type into—but you can use it when typing in Google Docs, Slack, Discord, GitHub, and certain rich text editors. The first thing you’ll need to do is type a : (colon) in the text field; this will immediately bring up an emoji search bar.^{[5]
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Don’t leave any spaces between the : and the name. For instance, if you wanted to search for the 👽 (alien) emoji, you’d type :alien with no spaces (and no capitalization necessary).
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Finish by typing another : (colon) or selecting an emoji. For instance, to get the alien emoji, you’d have to type :alien: into the text field. Depending on the program, that code might automatically turn into the emoji—or you might have to hit Enter to add the emoji to your text.^{[6]
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- If the emoji you want pops up on the list of search results before you’re even done typing its name, you can also just use your mouse to select it.

Section 5 of 6:

Adding Symbols in Windows 11

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Open the emoji picker and select the “Symbols” tab. That’s right—there’s an easy way to add symbols to your text. Use the same emoji keyboard shortcuts from above: Windows key + . (period) or Windows key + ; (semicolon). When the emoji keyboard appears, click on the Symbols tab, which is labeled with a % (percentage symbol), ↻ (curved arrow), △ (triangle), and a + (plus sign).
- Once there, select symbols just like you would on the emoji tab.
- Scroll through the symbol library with your mouse or the arrow keys.
- When you find the symbol you want to add, click on it or highlight it with your mouse and press Enter.
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Type out the specific Alt-code for a symbol. Many of the most popular and essential symbols have a designated Alt-code. To enter a symbol this way, hold down the Alt key; then, while pressing the key, type the four-digit code corresponding to that symbol. However, keep in mind that this will only work with a numeric keypad on a keyboard—not with the row of numbers at the top of most laptops and keyboards.
- Dagger (†) - Alt + 0134
- Double dagger (‡) - Alt + 0135
- List dot (•) - Alt + 0149
- en-dash (–) - Alt + 0150
- em-dash (—) - Alt + 0151
- Trademark (™) - Alt + 0153
- Copyright symbol (©) - Alt + 0169
- Registered symbol (®) - Alt + 0174
- Section symbol (§) - Alt + 0167
- Paragraph symbol (¶) - Alt + 0182
- Cent sign (₵) - Alt + 0162
- British pound (£) - Alt + 0163
- Euro currency (€) - Alt + 0128
- Japanese Yen (¥) - Alt + 0165
- Upside-down exclamation mark (¡) - Alt + 0161
- Upside-down question mark (¿) - Alt + 0191

Section 6 of 6:

More Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

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While you’re at it, why not learn a whole bunch of other handy shortcuts to use on a Windows computer? The emoji keyboard shortcut is definitely a must-know, but it’s not the only one! So, take a look at these additional—and no less helpful—Windows keyboard shortcuts:^{[7]
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- Windows key + I - Opens your Settings
- Windows key + D - Hides or shows the desktop
- Windows key + S - Opens the Search function
- Windows key + E - Open File Explorer
- Windows key + M - Minimizes all open windows
- Windows key + R - Opens the Run command
- Windows key + Up arrow - Goes up through the following sequence for the focused window: minimized → windowed → maximized
- Windows key + Down arrow - Goes down through the following sequence for the focused window: minimized → windowed → maximized
- Windows key + Tab - Switches to Task View
- Alt + Tab - Opens the Task Switcher (and moves forward each time you press Tab)
- Shift + Alt + Tab - Opens the Task Switcher (and moves backward each time you press Tab)
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Additionally, here are a few app shortcuts that’ll work in most Windows apps (but aren’t guaranteed to work for every single one out there).^{[8]
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- F1 - Help
- F2 - Rename selected item
- Alt + F4 - Close program
- Ctrl + C - Copy
- Ctrl + X - Cut
- Ctrl + V - Paste
- Ctrl + A - Select all
- Ctrl + N - New document
- Ctrl + P - Print
- Ctrl + Z - Undo