How to Insert Symbols in Excel: Menu, Alt Codes, UNICHAR and Formats

How-To Guides · 4 min read · Published October 25, 2026

Quick answer: click a cell and go to Insert → Symbols → Symbol, pick the character and click Insert. On Windows, numpad Alt codes such as Alt+0176 for ° also work while you edit a cell. For symbols produced by a formula, use =UNICHAR(10003) (✓). Alt+X does not work in Excel, because it is a Word feature.

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.

Method 1: the Symbol dialog

1. Double-click the cell (or click into the formula bar) where the symbol should go.
2. Open Insert → Symbols → Symbol. With the keyboard: Alt, then N, then U (ribbon key tips; the letters can differ in some versions).
3. Leave the font on (normal text) and use the Subset list to jump to Arrows, Mathematical Operators, Currency Symbols and so on.
4. If you know the code, set from to Unicode (hex) and type it in Character code, for example 2713 for ✓.
5. Click Insert. The dialog stays open, so you can add several symbols in a row.

The Special Characters tab of the same dialog lists ©, ®, ™, §, ¶, … and the dashes with their shortcuts.

Method 2: numpad Alt codes (Windows)

Hold Alt and type the number on the numeric keypad while you are editing a cell. Alt codes exist only for codes up to 255, so they cover a fixed set of characters:

✓, ✗ and ★ have no Alt code. If nothing appears, see Alt codes not working; the full list is on our Alt codes page.

Method 3: UNICHAR and CHAR formulas

UNICHAR turns a decimal Unicode number into a character (Excel 2013 and later), and UNICODE does the reverse:

• =UNICHAR(10003) → ✓ and =UNICHAR(10007) → ✗
• =UNICHAR(9650) → ▲ and =UNICHAR(9660) → ▼
• =UNICODE("★") → 9733

The older CHAR function uses the computer's legacy character set, not Unicode: on Windows =CHAR(176) gives °, but on a Mac the same number gives a different character. Use UNICHAR when a workbook is shared between Windows and Mac.

Useful formula patterns

• Trend arrows: =IF(C2>B2,UNICHAR(9650),UNICHAR(9660)) shows ▲ when the value went up.
• Pass/fail marks: =IF(D2="Done",UNICHAR(10003),UNICHAR(10007)).
• Star ratings: =REPT(UNICHAR(9733),E2)&REPT(UNICHAR(9734),5-E2) turns 3 into ★★★☆☆.

Method 4: custom number formats

To show a symbol next to a number without turning the number into text, select the cells, press Ctrl+1 → Custom, and type a format such as:

• 0.0"°C" → 21.5°C
• "▲ "0%;"▼ "0% → ▲ 5% for positive values and ▼ 3% for negative ones

Type the quotation marks as straight quotes. If you copy a format from a web page or document, curly quotes can sneak in and Excel rejects it (see straight vs curly quotes).

Other quick ways

• Emoji panel: Win+. on Windows (open the Symbols tab), or Ctrl+Cmd+Space on a Mac (Windows emoji panel, Mac Character Viewer).
• Mac Option keys: Option+Shift+8 for °, Option+= for ≠, Option+5 for ∞ (more Mac keys).
• AutoCorrect: Excel uses the Office AutoCorrect list (File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options), so (c) becomes ©, and you can add your own entries (text replacement guide).
• Copy and paste from any symbol page on this site.

Icons that are not characters

Home → Conditional Formatting → Icon Sets adds arrows, flags and traffic lights based on cell values. These are pictures drawn by Excel: they cannot be copied as text and do not appear in CSV exports. For a check box you can click, recent versions of Excel 365 offer Insert → Checkbox.

An old trick formats a cell in the Wingdings font so that ü shows as a check mark and û as ✗. It works on screen, but the cell really contains a letter, which turns into ü again when the font changes or the data is exported. UNICHAR is the safer choice. If symbols show as empty boxes, read why symbols show as boxes.

Related: symbols in Word, symbols in Google Sheets and check mark and X symbols.

Frequently asked questions