How Do You Type Symbols Using the Alt Key? We Have Great Ways

Does your Facebook profile name appear far too simple when compared to your friends’, which are embellished with special characters and symbols? Have you always wondered how to add a cute smiley or perhaps a heart to your profile name? If yes, then you have certainly come to the right place! Just go through the article to know what all symbols you can make and how to make symbols using the ‘Alt’ key.

If you look at your keyboard, you’ll find the alphabet keys and the number keys in the row just above the alphabets. If you carefully observe these number keys, you’ll find that each of them has a symbol above the number. To use these symbols, you need to press the ‘Shift’ key and then press a number key. A few other symbols such as the single quote (‘), double quote (“), greater than (>), less than (<), etc, can also be seen, next to the alphabet keys, in each row. While these few symbols are the basic symbols required for everyday writing, there are many many more symbols that we might sometimes require to use. So, how do we go about it? If you have a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or Orkut, you must have seen some people adding strange characters to their profile names to make them stand out. How do they do that? It’s a simple keyboard trick done using the magical key on the keyboard, the ‘Alt’ key, along with a few codes!

How to Make Symbols Using the Alt Key

The symbols that you see on your keyboard are easy to use as they are visible. However, when it comes to the “hidden” symbols, there are three ways to make them: using the Insert option in word processors, using the Windows Character Map, and using the Alt key. Here we shall learn how to type these symbols using the Alt key and their respective ASCII or Unicode codes. Just follow the steps given below:

• Look for the symbol in the list of ASCII or Unicode codes.
• Once you find it, note its code.
• Set the Number Lock on the Keyboard to “ON”.
• Now, press and hold the Alt key, and enter the code on the numeric keypad (on the right hand side of your keyboard).
• Release the Alt key.

Simple isn’t it? If you’re using a laptop computer, then look for numbers 0-9 on/below the keys M, J, K, L, U, I, O, 7, 8, and 9 and use the function key (fn) to access these digits.

Types of Symbols

There are around 255 symbols in all and they are an assorted bunch which can be sorted into the following five main categories. Here we’ll have a look at each of these categories of symbols. You can try out the codes in the box given below. So, are you ready to create some magic with the ‘Alt’ key?

1. Bullet Symbols
2. Mathematical Symbols
3. Letters with Accent
4. Greek Letters
5. Miscellaneous Symbols

Test Your Alt Codes:

1. Check if the Number Lock on the Keyboard is “ON”, and go to the text box below.
2. Keeping the alt key “Pressed”, type a Number from 1 to 255 (or any code from the lists below) on the numpad (numeric keypad).
3. When you release the keys, you’ll find that for each number you get a unique ALT Code Symbol against the text box.

Bullet Symbols

Mathematical Symbols

Letters with Accent

Greek Letters

Miscellaneous Symbols

In addition to the symbols and letters given above, you also have codes to create punctuation marks and letters of the English alphabet using the ‘Alt’ key. However, you hardly ever need to use the codes for these as these can be easily typed using the keys on a standard keyboard. Already thought of a unique profile name that you can create using these “new” symbols? Have fun!