How to Open the Emoji Keyboard on Windows and Mac: Shortcuts and Tips
The fastest way to enter emoji on a PC is the built-in emoji panel. Shortcuts for Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Linux, plus tips for when the search misses.
On a phone, you just tap the emoji button on the keyboard, but on a PC many people are at a loss for how to enter emoji. That's why plenty of people type "heart emoji" into a search box and copy one over, but Windows and Mac actually have an emoji picker built in. Memorize one shortcut and you can pull it up right away in a messenger, email or document.
This article sorts out the shortcuts for opening the emoji panel on Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Linux, along with practical tips that are handy once you start using it. Names and looks can differ a little by operating system version, so if yours looks different, look for a similar menu.
Windows: Win + . (period)
On Windows 10 and 11, holding the Windows logo key on your keyboard and pressing the period (.) opens the emoji panel. Windows key + semicolon (;) opens the same panel.
Here's the order of use.
- First click where you want the emoji (a chat app's input box, the body of an email) to put your cursor there.
- Press Win + . and a small window appears near the cursor.
- Click the emoji you want and it's entered right away. The window is often left open so you can pick several in a row, and Esc closes it.
The Windows 11 panel has several tabs besides emoji. In one window you can pick kaomoji, which are text faces like (・ω・), symbols like ※ → ✓ and, depending on the version, even a GIF search. On Windows 11, the clipboard history (Win + V) is also grouped into one of the tabs in the same window, so it's handy for pulling out phrases you copy often.
- 👍Acknowledgment, like (an emoji that often stays in the panel's recent items)
- ✅Marking something done
- 🙏A request, thanks
Frequently used emoji gather in "Recently used" at the very front of the panel, so after you've looked them up a few times, you just click as soon as it opens.
When the panel doesn't open on Windows
If you press Win + . and nothing happens, check the following in order.
- Check that the cursor is in a field where you can type. It won't open on the desktop or over a picture.
- Switch your input method to English and try again. In some versions and programs, the panel may not open well, or the search text can get tangled, while an input method for composed characters (such as Korean or Japanese) is active.
- Use the period key on the letter-key side (to the right of M, next to the comma). It may not open with the dot key on the numeric keypad, so if it doesn't work, try Win + ; as well.
- In some older programs or remote-access screens, the shortcut is blocked. In that case, you can enter the emoji in Notepad and then copy and paste it.
For reference, symbols like ★ ♥ ※ that you get from a character map or a special-symbols menu are black-and-white special characters, not color emoji. If you need the color heart ❤️, you have to use the emoji panel.
Mac: Control + Command + Space
On a Mac, pressing Control (⌃) + Command (⌘) + Space opens the "Emoji & Symbols" window. In most apps, choosing "Emoji & Symbols" at the bottom of the Edit menu in the menu bar opens the same window.
In recent macOS, there's also a way to open it by pressing the fn key at the lower left of the keyboard once (the key with a globe 🌐 drawn on it). In the Keyboard section of System Settings, change the "Press 🌐 key to" action to "Show Emoji & Symbols." The location and name of this setting differ by macOS version, and on some Macs the key is set to switch input sources. If you use this key to switch input languages, leave it as is and use Control + Command + Space so you don't get confused.
Here are handy features in the Mac emoji window.
- Start typing as soon as the window opens and it searches.
- Click the icon at the upper right of the window and it expands into the large Character Viewer. Here you can find not only emoji but also special characters like arrows, math symbols and brackets by category.
- If you add your frequently used emoji to favorites in the Character Viewer, you can find them quickly next time.
- Press and hold a person or hand emoji and you can often choose a skin tone.
- 😊A soft smile to put at the end of an email
- 👋A greeting, a first message
- 🎉Congratulations, a confirmed schedule
Chromebook and Linux
On a Chromebook (ChromeOS), pressing the Search key (or Launcher key) + Shift + Space opens the emoji picker. There's often also an "Emoji" item in the menu that appears when you right-click in a text field. Recent versions also have tabs for picking symbols, text faces and GIFs along with emoji.
On Linux, the method depends on the desktop environment and input method. Here's what's reliable.
- GNOME-based: In the input field of many default apps, pressing Ctrl + . or Ctrl + ; brings up an emoji picker. Some apps don't support it. You can also open the "Characters" app, search for emoji and copy them.
- KDE Plasma: Relatively recent versions include an emoji picker, often opened with Meta (the Windows key) + . .
- IBus input method: The input method itself has an emoji entry feature, and depending on the version Ctrl + Shift + E or Super + . is set as the default shortcut. You can check and change it in the emoji section of the IBus settings.
Defaults differ by distribution, so if it doesn't work, try searching for "emoji" in the settings app.
When search only works with the right keyword
The inconvenience people run into most with the PC emoji window is search. You type a word and get no results, or only odd ones.
There are two main reasons. First, each emoji has search names (keywords) attached, and they exist separately for each language, so depending on the operating system version and display language, keywords in languages other than English can be missing or sparse. Second, with an input method that composes characters, like Korean or Japanese, the search box can react before the character is finished, so the search term doesn't go in properly.
That's why searching with an English word is often more reliable.
- heart: All the kinds of ❤️ hearts
- clap: 👏 Applause
- fire: 🔥 Fire
- eyes: 👀 Eyes
- sparkle: ✨ Sparkles
- pray or folded: 🙏 Folded hands
- check: ✅ Check mark
- 🔥Search "fire"
- 👀Search "eyes"
- ✨Search "sparkle"
When you can't think of the right word, you can use this site alongside it. Type words like "clap," "tears" or "congrats" into the search box at the top of the site and related emoji appear, and tapping one copies it right away. Each emoji's explanation page has its meaning and usage together, which also helps when you're choosing between look-alikes such as 😂 and 🤣.
Tips for getting faster
Once you've learned the shortcut, adding a few habits makes entering emoji much quicker.
- Settle on your five most used. For work, 👍 ✅ 🙏 😊 🎉 covers most needs, and they quickly settle at the front of your recent items.
- On a Mac, you can use text replacement. In the Keyboard section of System Settings, register something like ";ok" so that it changes to ✅. Choose shortcut phrases from combinations you'd never type normally, so they don't change in unexpected places.
- In services that call emoji with colons, like Slack, Discord and GitHub, a shortcode like :thumbsup: can be faster than a keyboard shortcut. The details are in our article on shortcodes, covering what things like :smile: are and how to type emoji in Slack, GitHub and Discord.
- A messenger's stickers are pictures that only show inside that app, while emoji entered with a shortcut are characters that stay when you paste them into other apps.
- 👍✅🙏😊🎉Five worth pinning in your recent items for work
If you enter an emoji and it shows up as a box (□) on the other person's screen, or turns black and white in Excel or Word, it's mostly not a shortcut problem but the receiving device or program being unable to display that emoji. Those symptoms are covered in detail in our article on what to do when emoji won't copy or come out broken on PC, mobile, Excel and Word. Getting just one shortcut under your fingers makes using emoji on a PC as easy as on a phone, so give Win + . or Control + Command + Space a try today.
Last checked 2026-10-22