How to Insert Special Characters into Google Docs and Slides

Inserting symbols into your file is a straightforward process that you can perform in several ways. Whether you want some silly emojis, arrows, or a different language’s scripts you can achieve this by manually selecting a category, typing in the search bar, or by drawing what you’re looking for.

The first thing you’ll need to do is open up a new  Google Docs or Slides file to get started.

Alternatively, if you’re using the latest version of Chrome, you can type “docs.new” or “slides.new” into a new tab’s address bar.

In your document, open the “Insert” menu and then click the “Special Characters” command.

Manually Search for Symbols

If you don’t have a particular character in mind (or you’re not sure how to search for what you do have in mind), you can use the drop-down menus to browse through the plethora of available symbols.

Click the second drop-down menu to choose a category. You can choose from symbols, punctuation, emojis, different language’s scripts, and even different whitespace characters. There are a lot, so be prepared to spend some time browsing.

Next, click on the other drop-down menu to refine the characters even further.

Once you’ve chosen the categories, all you need to do is click the character you want to insert it into your file.

Use the Search Bar

If you know what you’re looking for you can use the search bar located to the right of the pop-up window. You can search by keyword, description, or by Unicode value–if you know it.

Using the search bar can prove a bit troublesome as searching for an emoji with a smile didn’t produce the intended results. This is because it uses the word to match the description of the character.

If you search “Smiling” instead, you get more results.

Still, searching for a symbol is usually faster than browsing all the menus to find one manually.

Draw a Your Character to Search

Finally, if both your attempts to find the correct character or symbol have turned up dry, you can try the draw feature that lets you sketch whatever you want.

Start drawing/writing in the box to the right of the window, and similar characters will appear in the pane to the left. You don’t have to draw it all in one stroke, and you can keep adding to your drawing if it requires multiple gestures.

Once you’re done, click the arrow in the bottom right corner to reset the box and start drawing the next one.

If you regularly use any these characters, you’ll find them first drop-down menu under “Recent Characters.”

Windows

You can quickly insert special characters on Windows using Alt key codes. These require a separate numerical keypard on the right side of your keyboard, so they won’t work on most laptops. They’ll only work on desktop PCs if you have that number pad to the right of your Enter key.

To use Alt key codes, ensure that “Num Lock” is on — you may need to tap the Num Lock key to turn it on. Next, press the Alt key and hold it down. Tap the appropriate numbers using the number pad at the right side of your keyboard and then release the Alt key.

For example, let’s say you want to type the £ symbol for the British Pound. It’s numerical shortcut is 0163. With Num Lock enabled, you’d hold down the Alt key, tap 0, tap 1, tap 6, and tap 3 — all on the numpad — and then release the Alt key.

The Character Map tool can help here. Open it by tapping the Windows key, typing “Character Map” to search for it, and pressing Enter. For each special character, you’ll see its Alt key code printed at the bottom-right corner of the window. If you don’t have a number pad, you can also head to this window to view a list of characters and copy-paste them into other applications. You can also find lists of special characters and their associated codes online.

macOS

Mac OS X has its own Character Viewer, which is easier to access. In almost any application, you can click Edit > Special Characters to open it.

Locate a symbol in the window and double-click it to enter it into the text field in the current application. If you use specific special characters frequently, you can add them to your Favorites list so they can be easily accessed here. The list is more organized than it is on Windows.

You can also type a variety of accented letters and other special characters with Option key shortcuts. For example, let’s say you want to type the word “touché.” You could type “touch,” press Option+e at the same time, and then tap the e key. This would instruct your Mac to use an acute accent over the letter e.

There are also Option+Shift keyboard shortcuts, and ones that don’t use accented letters. For example, typing Option+4 gets you a cent symbol (¢) instead of a dollar sign. Washington State University has a good list of Option and Option+Shift shortcuts for typing special characters on a Mac.

If you just want to type a letter with an accent, there’s a much faster way on the latest versions of macOS. Just press and hold the appropriate letter key on your keyboard. For example, if you want to type an “é” character, you’d press and hold the “e” key.

A popup menu will appear. Press the number key corresponding to the accented letter you want to type, or click it in the menu.

iPhone and iPad

You can type many additional characters on an iPhone or iPad’s touch keyboard by long-pressing the appropriate key. For example, to type the word “touché,” you’d type “touch,” long press the e key, and choose the é character.

This also works for a variety of symbols. For example, to type another currency symbol, you’d long-press the $ symbol on the keyboard and choose your desired symbol.

If you frequently need to type symbols that don’t appear on the standard keyboard, you can head to Settings>General>Keyboards>Add New Keyboard to add a keyboard from another language that contains those characters. And, now that iOS offers support for third-party keyboards, you could install a keyboard that offers support for a wider variety of Unicode symbols and use it.

Android

Android’s keyboard works similarly. Long-press keys on the keyboard to access related characters and symbols. For example, long-press the e to find the accented e characters. Long-press other symbols — like the currency symbol — to access additional related symbols.

This is how the default “Google Keyboard” app for Android works, anyway. Other keyboards should work similarly. Because Android offers support for more keyboards, you could install other keyboards from Google Play that are better suited to typing a wider variety of Unicode symbols.

1. Insert a Special Character

Google Docs offers a Special Character feature that allows you to insert symbols, arrows, emojis, and more. This feature also provides letters with accent marks.

Go to the spot in your document where you want to add the accented letter. Then select Insert > Special Characters from the menu.

When the window appears, enter the letter in the Search box or draw it with its accent in the spot below Search. You can hover your cursor over the results on the left to see larger versions, which is helpful. Select the letter you want to use, and it will pop into your document.

2. Add an Accent Letter With a Keyboard Shortcut

Whether you use a Windows or Mac computer, you can type a keyboard shortcut in Google Docs for your accented letters.

To use these combination shortcuts on Mac, type the first shortcut immediately followed by the second. For example, to type the capital letter O with its accent as shown above, hold Option+E at the same time, release both, then hold Shift+O together, and release both.

3. Copy Letters With Accent Marks From Google Input Tools

Another handy option for typing accent marks on letters is using Google Input Tools. This allows you to choose the letter you want and copy it into Google Docs, but also enter and copy words, phrases, or even paragraphs.

Visit Google Input Tools which is available for free. Select a keyboard language from the drop-down list on the top left of the input box.

Type your text. You can use a word, letter, phrase, sentence, or whatever you like.

Then, right-click the text and choose “Copy” to place it on your clipboard. Head to Google Docs, right-click the spot where you want the text, and choose “Paste.”

Google Input Tools is also available as a free extension for Google Chrome. So if you use the Chrome browser most often, you might consider installing the extension.

4. Use Your Computer’s Tools to Get Accent Marks

Your computer may also let you use built-in tools to type accent marks for letters. While options vary depending on your platform, here are a couple of options.

On Windows, you can use the Character Map. Click the Start button, scroll to and expand the Windows Accessories folder, and choose “Character Map” to open the app.

Then move the tool’s window to use it in Google Docs. Find the letter you want and choose “Select” to place it in the Characters to Copy box. Click “Copy” and then paste the letter in your document.

On Mac, simply hold down the letter to display the accent options. Choose the one you want or enter the number below the accented letter to insert it.

5. Try a Google Docs Add-On

One final option for typing accent marks on letters is with a free Google Docs add-on called Easy Accents.

After you install the add-on (be sure you’re comfortable with the permissions it requires), head to your document in Google Docs. Click “Add-Ons” in the menu, move to “Easy Accents – Docs,” and pick “Easy Accents – Start.”

When the sidebar opens on the right, pick the language you want accented letters for in the drop-down box at the top. You’ll then see your options listed as buttons.

Click a button to insert the lowercase letter or hold Shift as you click to insert the uppercase letter. To switch languages, use the drop-down box at the bottom of the sidebar.

Easy Accents is available for free with an optional premium subscription to set a default language.

Clear the DNS Cache

Open a Command Prompt window as Administrator. To do so, open the Start menu, type “Command Prompt” into the search box, right-click the Command Prompt shortcut in the results, and then select the “Run as Administrator” command.

At the prompt, type the following command, and then press Enter:

ipconfig /flushdns

This command works on all versions of Windows, including Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

Running this command should usually fix whatever problem you have. However, some applications may have their own DNS cache you need to clear if you’re still experiencing problems. For example, Firefox has its own internal DNS cache, so you may want to close and reopen it—or even clear its browser settings—if you’re experiencing problems in Firefox.

Restart the DNS Service

On older versions of Windows, you may also want to try restarting the DNS Client system service that handles the DNS caching. This isn’t possible on Windows 10 and 8, which prevents you from stopping and starting this service—you’ll just see an error message if you try. However, you can do this on Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

If you’re using an older version of Windows, you can do this right from the Administrator Command Prompt window you already have open. Just run the following commands in turn:

net stop dnscache
net start dnscache

If you’re having problems and feel the need to restart this service on Windows 10, you can always try rebooting your computer. This restarts the DNS Client service and every other piece of software on your computer.

DNS servers work by matching the domain names you type into apps—like web browsers—to their associated IP address. When you type a domain name into your browser, for example, your PC contacts the DNS servers it has listed, the server looks up the IP address for that domain name, and then the PC can fire off it’s browsing request to that IP address. The trouble is that most ISPs maintain DNS servers that can be a little on the slow and unreliable side. Google and OpenDNS both maintain their own, free, public DNS servers that are typically much faster and more reliable. You just have to tell your computer to use them.

Note: The techniques in this article work in Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Right-click the network status icon in your system tray, and then click “Open the Network and Sharing Center” on the context menu.

In the “Network and Sharing Center” window, click the “Change adapter settings” link at the upper left.

In the “Network Connections” window, right-click the connection for which you want to change the DNS settings, and then click “Properties” on the context menu.

In the properties window, select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4)” on the list, and then click the “Properties” button.

The bottom half of the “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4) Properties” window shows the DNS settings. Select the “Use the following DNS server addresses” option. Next, type in the IP addresses for the preferred and alternate DNS servers you want to use. Here are the IP addresses for Google DNS and Open DNS:

Google DNS

Preferred: 8.8.8.8
Alternate: 8.8.4.4

OpenDNS

Preferred: 208.67.222.222
Alternate: 208.67.220.220

We’re using Google DNS in our example, but feel free to use whichever you like. When you’ve typed in the addresses, click the “OK” button.

From now on, you should experience quicker and more reliable DNS lookups. While it’s not going to make your browser suddenly screamingly fast or anything, every little bit helps.

How to Change the Color Palette

First, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a wallpaper that you like. This is where the color palette options will come from. When you’re ready, swipe down once from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon.

Next, go to the “Wallpaper and Style” section in the Settings.

Now select “Color Palette.” You’ll be given the option to apply the default device theme if you’re not already using it.

You’ll see five different color palettes to choose from. Tap them to see how the colors will look in the preview area above.

The second thing you can do here is theme the app icons as well. At the time of writing, this only applies to Samsung’s apps and it only works with the default One UI Home launcher.

When you’re all set, tap “Done” to apply the changes.

That’s it!