Practical, no-nonsense guides to typing every symbol, accent and special character — with Alt codes that actually work, honest notes on the ones that don’t, and shortcuts for Windows, Mac, phones and the web.
Type the degree sign (°) for temperatures and angles: Alt+0176 on Windows, Option+Shift+8 on Mac, plus iPhone, Android, HTML and Word methods.
4 min read · Aug 8, 2026 →The difference between the em dash (—), en dash (–) and hyphen (-), and how to type each one on Windows (Alt+0151 / Alt+0150), Mac, phones, HTML and Word.
5 min read · Aug 11, 2026 →Type accented and foreign letters on any device: Windows Alt codes, the Mac dead-key method (Option+e then e = é), phone long-press, and HTML entities.
6 min read · Aug 14, 2026 →Type the world’s currency symbols: Euro Alt+0128, Pound Alt+0163, Cent Alt+0162, Yen Alt+0165, plus Mac shortcuts, HTML entities and the Word Alt+X method.
5 min read · Aug 17, 2026 →Type heart symbols anywhere: the classic Alt+3 (♥) that really works, plus outline hearts, the red heart emoji, HTML codes and phone methods.
4 min read · Aug 20, 2026 →Type ©, ® and ™ correctly: Windows Alt codes (Alt+0169 / 0174 / 0153), Mac Option shortcuts, the (c) auto-correct trick, HTML entities and Word codes.
4 min read · Aug 23, 2026 →Type arrow symbols in any direction: the Alt codes that actually work (Alt+26 →, Alt+27 ←), plus HTML entities, Word codes and where to find curved and double arrows.
4 min read · Aug 25, 2026 →Type proper fraction characters like ½, ¼ and ¾ instead of 1/2: Windows Alt codes, HTML entities, Word’s Alt+X, and how to build any fraction.
4 min read · Aug 27, 2026 →Insert check mark and cross symbols in text: why they have no standard Alt code, the reliable copy-paste and Word Alt+X methods, HTML entities, and the Wingdings trick.
4 min read · Aug 28, 2026 →Type star symbols anywhere: the filled star ★, outline star ☆ and sparkles ✦ ✧ — why they have no keypad Alt code, plus copy-paste, Word Alt+X and HTML methods.
4 min read · Aug 29, 2026 →Type the bullet point • anywhere: Windows Alt+0149, Mac Option+8, plus HTML, Word and phone methods — and how to make bulleted lists in plain text.
3 min read · Aug 29, 2026 →Type the section sign § (Alt+0167) and pilcrow/paragraph sign ¶ (Alt+0182) on Windows, Mac, HTML and Word — used in legal, academic and editing work.
4 min read · Aug 29, 2026 →Type math comparison signs — not equal ≠, approximately ≈, less-than-or-equal ≤ and greater-than-or-equal ≥ — with copy-paste, Word Alt+X and HTML (real Alt-code truth explained).
4 min read · Aug 29, 2026 →