Alt Codes Not Working? 9 Causes and the Fix for Each

How-To Guides · 6 min read · Published October 25, 2026

Quick answer: an Alt code only works when you hold the left Alt key and type the number on the numeric keypad (not the number row) with Num Lock on, and only for codes from 0 to 255. If one of those four things is missing, Windows types nothing or the wrong character. Work through the causes below in order; most people are fixed by the first three.

Quick reference: every method

Every Alt code below is verified against the real Windows code pages — where none exists we say so, rather than list one that won’t work.

The nine causes at a glance

1. Use the numeric keypad, not the number row

Windows only reads Alt codes from the separate numeric keypad. The digits above the letters send a different key signal, so holding Alt and typing 0176 on them does nothing (or triggers a menu shortcut). Microsoft's own instructions say the same: the code must be typed on the numeric keypad.

1. Click where you want the symbol.
2. Press and hold the left Alt key. On many non-US layouts the right Alt key is AltGr, which behaves differently.
3. Type the code on the numeric keypad, for example 0176.
4. Release Alt. The symbol (here °) appears.

2. Turn Num Lock on

With Num Lock off, the keypad keys act as arrows, Home, End and Page Up/Down, so the cursor moves instead of a symbol appearing. Press Num Lock once and check that its light is on (some keyboards show the state only on screen). Then try the code again.

3. No numeric keypad? Three ways round it

Hidden keypad. Some laptops print small numbers on the U, I, O, J, K, L and M keys. On those models a key such as Fn + NumLk switches the letters into a keypad. Not every laptop has this, so check the small blue or grey labels on your keys.

On-Screen Keyboard. Open Settings → Accessibility → Keyboard and turn on the On-Screen Keyboard. Select Options, tick Turn on numeric key pad, then press OK. Make sure the on-screen NumLock is on. Many people can then hold the physical Alt key and click the digits on the on-screen keypad; if your PC does not accept that, use one of the methods below instead.

Skip Alt codes entirely. For most symbols another method is faster anyway:

• Copy and paste from our Alt codes finder or any symbol page.
• Windows emoji panel: press Win + . and open the Symbols tab. See our emoji panel shortcut page.
• Microsoft Word: type the symbol's hex code and press Alt+X. Our guide to inserting symbols in Word explains it step by step.
• Your own shortcut: set up a text replacement so that, say, typing ;deg becomes °.

4. Check the leading zero

A leading zero is not decoration; it switches Windows to a different character table.

• Alt+0nnn (with a zero) uses the Windows "ANSI" table, which is Windows-1252 on English and Western European systems.
• Alt+nnn (no zero) uses the old DOS table, code page 437.

So Alt+0151 gives an em dash (—) but Alt+151 gives ù. In the same way Alt+0233 gives é, while Alt+233 gives Θ. If a code "works but gives the wrong symbol", this is almost always the reason. Our explainer on how Alt codes work covers the two tables in more detail.

5. Codes above 255 are not real Alt codes

This is the most common trap. Many charts online list "Alt codes" such as Alt+8734 for ∞ or Alt+9733 for ★. Those numbers are just each symbol's decimal Unicode value. Codes above 255 do not work in most Windows programs; they only work in programs built on Microsoft's RichEdit text control, such as WordPad. Everywhere else you get nothing or an unrelated character, which is why such codes seem to work for some people but fail almost everywhere else.

Some symbols do have a genuine code in the old DOS table: ∞ is Alt+236, for example. Everything else (≠, ★, ✓, ₹ and thousands more) has no numpad code at all, and the honest answer is to use Alt+X, the emoji panel or copy and paste. Every Alt code on this site is checked against the real 0–255 tables, as described on our How We Verify page.

6. Turn off Mouse Keys

Mouse Keys is a Windows accessibility feature that lets the numeric keypad move the mouse pointer. While it is on, the keypad digits steer the pointer instead of typing. Turn it off in Settings → Accessibility → Mouse → Mouse keys.

7. The program ignores Alt codes

Alt codes are handled by Windows' keyboard input, and some programs take the keyboard over themselves. Remote desktop sessions, virtual machines and full-screen games are the usual examples, and some apps use Alt plus digits as their own shortcuts. Test the same code in Notepad: if it works there, the problem is the program, not your keyboard. In that program, paste the symbol instead.

8. Your PC uses a different language code page

The Alt+0nnn codes follow your system's ANSI code page. On a PC set to, for example, a Cyrillic or Greek system locale, the same number produces a letter from that alphabet instead of the Western symbol listed in a chart. The Alt+X method and copy and paste are not affected, because they use Unicode directly.

9. On a Mac, use Option shortcuts instead

Macs never had Alt codes. Many common symbols have an Option-key shortcut instead (the verified ones are in the table above), and anything else can be picked from the Character Viewer: press Control+Command+Space or Fn/🌐+E. Our guide to Mac keyboard symbols explains the ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ ⌃ signs you will see in those shortcuts.

Still stuck? A 30-second test

1. Open Notepad.
2. Check that Num Lock is on and Mouse Keys is off.
3. Hold the left Alt key and type 0176 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.

If ° appears, your keyboard is fine and the problem lies with the code or the program you were using. If nothing appears even in Notepad, your keyboard has no working numeric keypad: use the On-Screen Keyboard or one of the alternatives in section 3.

Sources

• Microsoft Support: Insert ASCII or Unicode Latin-based symbols and characters
• Microsoft Support: Use the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK) to type

Frequently asked questions