How to Insert Emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook

Office apps accept emoji the same way any text field does: the emoji is a character, and you can paste, type or insert it. What confuses people is that there is no emoji button on the ribbon, and that the same emoji can appear in color, in black outline or as a box depending on the font. Here are the methods that work, then the fixes.

Quick answer

Windows: the emoji panel

1. Click where you want the emoji.
2. Press Win + . (the Windows key and the period key together). Win + ; does the same.
3. The panel opens with emoji, GIFs, kaomoji and symbols. Start typing a name, such as “thumbs”, to filter.
4. Click the emoji. It is inserted and the panel closes.

The panel is part of Windows 10 and 11, so it works in every Office app and every other program. The Symbols tab of the same panel holds arrows, currency and punctuation that are not emoji.

Mac: the emoji picker

Press Control + Command + Space, or on newer keyboards tap the globe key, or choose Edit → Emoji & Symbols in the app’s menu. Search by name, then double-click the emoji. Office for Mac uses Apple’s color emoji, so what you insert is what you see in Messages.

Word: Insert Symbol and AutoCorrect

Word has two extra routes of its own.

Insert → Symbol

1. Go to Insert → Symbol → More Symbols.
2. Set Font to Segoe UI Emoji (Windows) or Apple Color Emoji (Mac).
3. Scroll or pick a subset, select the emoji and click Insert.

This dialog also shows the Unicode code of the selected character, and you can assign a Shortcut Key to any emoji you use often.

AutoCorrect

Word already replaces :) and :( with Wingdings smileys. To make it insert a real emoji when you type a code:

1. Insert the emoji once using any method above and copy it.
2. Open File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options.
3. In Replace type a code such as ;thumbs, paste the emoji in With, and click Add.

From then on, typing the code followed by a space inserts the emoji. AutoCorrect entries sync to Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on the same computer.

Alt+X for a specific code

Type the emoji’s hex code and press Alt + X: 1F600 then Alt+X gives 😀. This works in Word and Outlook on Windows. Every page in the emoji directory shows the code.

Excel

Emoji are text, so a cell can hold one directly: press Win + . inside the cell or paste. They can also be produced by formula: =UNICHAR(128077) returns 👍, which is useful for status columns (=IF(A2>100,UNICHAR(9989),UNICHAR(10060)) shows ✅ or ❌). Emoji count as characters for LEN and can be sorted, but filters treat them as text, not as pictures.

PowerPoint

Use Win + . or the Mac picker inside any text box. For large decorative emoji, insert it into its own text box and increase the font size; color emoji scale cleanly. PowerPoint also offers Insert → Icons, which are monochrome vector icons rather than emoji. Icons can be recolored and resized without blurring, so they are often the better choice for slides.

Outlook

Emoji work in subject lines and message bodies through Win + . or the Mac picker. Outlook for Windows also converts :) into a smiley. Remember that the recipient’s device draws the emoji with its own font, so a 😀 sent from Windows appears in Apple’s style on an iPhone.

Why emoji look flat, wrong or like a box

• Black-and-white outline. The text is in a font with monochrome emoji, or an older Office build without color font support. Select the emoji and set the font to Segoe UI Emoji (Windows) or Apple Color Emoji (Mac). Color emoji in Word require Office 2016 or later on Windows 8.1 or later.
• A box or blank. The font has no glyph at all. Same fix: switch the emoji to the system emoji font.
• A different picture than expected. Each platform draws its own artwork. Check the emoji page for the official name so both sides agree on meaning.
• Two emoji instead of one. Some emoji are sequences (skin tones, flags, families) joined by invisible characters. Older versions of Office show the parts separately. Copy the emoji from the directory as a whole and paste it, rather than typing components.

Text symbols versus emoji

Symbols such as ✓, → and © have both a text form and, for some, an emoji form. In Word, ✔ may appear as a plain black check mark or as a color emoji depending on whether a variation selector follows it. If you need the plain version, use Insert → Symbol with a text font such as Segoe UI Symbol; if you need color, use the emoji panel. The check mark guide covers each version.

Frequently asked questions