Learn how to… Use emoji when writing in Windows 10

Your guide Mark Wyciślik-Wilson says…“You’re probably used to adding emoji to text messages and social media posts, but you can also use them within Windows via the emoji keyboard”

- Mark Wyciślik-Wilson

Emoji – those little smiley faces and other symbols used to express feelings and ideas in text messages and social media posts – have become part of modern language. While some people find emoji a little silly, most have fully embraced them, and use them to add emotion and a little pizzazz to what they write.

But there is no need to limit your use of emoji to the likes of Facebook and messaging apps. You can use Windows 10’s emoji keyboard to add them to just about any application without copying and pasting.

Microsoft hardly advertises the feature, but once you’ve tried it out, you’ll fall in love with it and start using it more than you might think.

To gain access to the emoji keyboard, you just need to have Windows 10’s/Autumn Creators Update (Windows 10 version 1709) or later installed.

Step-by-step Using the emoji keyboard

1 Accessing the emoji keyboard

There are two keyboard shortcuts you can use to access the emoji keyboard (sometimes also referred to as the emoji panel): press either [Win] and [;] or [Win] and [.] to activate it. When you press either of these shortcuts, the keyboard will pop into view ready for you to use – and there are various ways you can navigate and use the emoji that are available.