Type Special Characters with a Chromebook (Accents, Symbols, Em Dashes)
I work part-time as an editor, which means I spend a lot of my time replacing hyphens with em dashes. So, when I bought my Chromebook, my life became a little different.
The normal way I’ve always typed em dashes is to press Alt and type 0151 on the numerical keypad. Only thing is that Chromebooks don’t have numerical keypads. In fact, most laptops don’t anymore.
In a pinch, you can google the special character and copy and paste the special characters in. But no one’s got time for that.
In Word, you can use special characters from the Insert ribbon.
But Chromebooks don’t have Word.
You get the idea. For those of you who’ve skimmed all this and are just looking for the solution, here it is:
How to Type Special Characters with a Chromebook: Unicode Input
On a Chromebook, when you press CTRL+SHIFT+U in an input field, you’ll get a little underlined “u” on your screen. Look:
Now, type in the Unicode entry for the special character you want. An em dash is “2014.”
Hit enter and voila, em dash: —
2014 for an em dash is easy to remember because 2014 is the year that St. Vincent released her self-titled album St. Vincent. But for all other Unicode characters, you should check out this handy reference:
Wikipedia also has a good breakdown of all the Unicode characters.
That table is massive, of course. So here’s a handy reference for the ones you’d most frequently use on your Chromebook.
Typing Subscript and Superscript in Unicode
The Unicode entries for subscript are U+208X, where X is the number you want in subscript. For example, H₂0 uses CTRL+SHIFT+U and then 2082.
The Unicode entries for superscript are CTRL+SHIFT+U and then 207x, where X is the number you want in superscript. For example, 10⁷ uses CTRL+SHIFT+U and then 2077.
That is, except for 1, 2, and 3, which are CTRL+SHIFT+U and then 00B9, CTRL+SHIFT+U and then 00B2 and CTRL+SHIFT+U and then 00B3 respectively.
Typing Punctuation in Unicode
Use the handy table below for your dashes and other esoteric punctuation.
| CTRL + SHIFT + U and … | Character | Name |
| 2013 | – | En dash |
| 2014 | — | Em dash |
| 2015 | ― | Horizontal bar |
| 2017 | ‗ | Double low line |
| 2018 | ‘ | Left single quotation mark |
| 2019 | ’ | Right single quotation mark |
| 201A | ‚ | Single low-9 quotation mark |
| 201B | ‛ | Single high-reversed-9 quotation mark |
| 201C | “ | Left double quotation mark |
| 201D | ” | Right double quotation mark |
| 201E | „ | Double low-9 quotation mark |
| 2020 | † | Dagger |
| 2021 | ‡ | Double dagger |
| 2022 | • | Bullet |
| 2026 | … | Horizontal ellipsis |
| 2030 | ‰ | Per mille sign |
| 2032 | ′ | Prime |
| 2033 | ″ | Double prime |
| 2039 | ‹ | Single left-pointing angle quotation mark |
| 203A | › | Single right-pointing angle quotation mark |
| 203C | ‼ | Double exclamation mark |
| 203E | ‾ | Overline |
| 2044 | ⁄ | Fraction slash |
| 204A | ⁊ | Tironian et sign |
Typing Symbols in Unicode
| CTRL + SHIFT + U and … | Character | Name |
| 00A0 | Non-breaking space | |
| 00A1 | ¡ | Inverted Exclamation Mark |
| 00A2 | ¢ | Cent sign |
| 00A3 | £ | Pound sign |
| 00A4 | ¤ | Currency sign |
| 00A5 | ¥ | Yen sign |
| 00A6 | ¦ | Broken bar |
| 00A7 | § | Section sign |
| 00A8 | ¨ | Diaeresis (Umlaut) |
| 00A9 | © | Copyright sign |
| 00AB | « | Left-pointing double angle quotation mark |
| 00AC | ¬ | Not sign |
| 00AD | Soft hyphen | |
| 00AE | ® | Registered sign |
| 00AF | ¯ | Macron |
| 00B0 | ° | Degree symbol |
| 00B1 | ± | Plus-minus sign |
| 00B2 | ² | Superscript two |
| 00B3 | ³ | Superscript three |
| 00B4 | ´ | Acute accent |
| 00B5 | µ | Micro sign |
| 00B6 | ¶ | Pilcrow sign |
| 00B7 | · | Middle dot |
| 00B8 | ¸ | Cedilla |
| 00B9 | ¹ | Superscript one |
| 00BA | º | Masculine ordinal indicator |
| 00BB | » | Right-pointing double angle quotation mark |
| 00BC | ¼ | Vulgar fraction one quarter |
| 00BD | ½ | Vulgar fraction one half |
| 00D7 | × | Multiplication sign |
| 00F7 | ÷ | Division sign |
| 00BA | º | Masculine ordinal indicator |
| 00BB | » | Right-pointing double angle quotation mark |
| 00BC | ¼ | Vulgar fraction one quarter |
| 00BD | ½ | Vulgar fraction one half |
| 00BE | ¾ | Vulgar fraction three quarters |
| 00BF | ¿ | Inverted Question Mark |
Typing Accents in Unicode
| CTRL + SHIFT + U and… | Character | Name |
| 00C0 | À | Latin Capital Letter A with grave |
| 00C1 | Á | Latin Capital letter A with acute |
| 00C2 | Â | Latin Capital letter A with circumflex |
| 00C3 | Ã | Latin Capital letter A with tilde |
| 00C4 | Ä | Latin Capital letter A with diaeresis |
| 00C5 | Å | Latin Capital letter A with ring above |
| 00C6 | Æ | Latin Capital letter Æ |
| 00C7 | Ç | Latin Capital letter C with cedilla |
| 00C8 | È | Latin Capital letter E with grave |
| 00C9 | É | Latin Capital letter E with acute |
| 00CA | Ê | Latin Capital letter E with circumflex |
| 00CB | Ë | Latin Capital letter E with diaeresis |
| 00CC | Ì | Latin Capital letter I with grave |
| 00CD | Í | Latin Capital letter I with acute |
| 00CE | Î | Latin Capital letter I with circumflex |
| 00CF | Ï | Latin Capital letter I with diaeresis |
| 00D0 | Ð | Latin Capital letter Eth |
| 00D1 | Ñ | Latin Capital letter N with tilde |
| 00D2 | Ò | Latin Capital letter O with grave |
| 00D3 | Ó | Latin Capital letter O with acute |
| 00D4 | Ô | Latin Capital letter O with circumflex |
| 00D5 | Õ | Latin Capital letter O with tilde |
| 00D6 | Ö | Latin Capital letter O with diaeresis |
| 00D8 | Ø | Latin Capital letter O with stroke |
| 00D9 | Ù | Latin Capital letter U with grave |
| 00DA | Ú | Latin Capital letter U with acute |
| 00DB | Û | Latin Capital Letter U with circumflex |
| 00DC | Ü | Latin Capital Letter U with diaeresis |
| 00DD | Ý | Latin Capital Letter Y with acute |
| 00DE | Þ | Latin Capital Letter Thorn |
| 00DF | ß | Latin Small Letter sharp S |
| 00E0 | à | Latin Small Letter A with grave |
| 00E1 | á | Latin Small Letter A with acute |
| 00E2 | â | Latin Small Letter A with circumflex |
| 00E3 | ã | Latin Small Letter A with tilde |
| 00E4 | ä | Latin Small Letter A with diaeresis |
| 00E5 | å | Latin Small Letter A with ring above |
| 00E6 | æ | Latin Small Letter Æ |
| 00E7 | ç | Latin Small Letter C with cedilla |
| 00E8 | è | Latin Small Letter E with grave |
| 00E9 | é | Latin Small Letter E with acute |
| 00EA | ê | Latin Small Letter E with circumflex |
| 00EB | ë | Latin Small Letter E with diaeresis |
| 00EC | ì | Latin Small Letter I with grave |
| 00ED | í | Latin Small Letter I with acute |
| 00EE | î | Latin Small Letter I with circumflex |
| 00EF | ï | Latin Small Letter I with diaeresis |
| 00F0 | ð | Latin Small Letter Eth |
| 00F1 | ñ | Latin Small Letter N with tilde |
| 00F2 | ò | Latin Small Letter O with grave |
| 00F3 | ó | Latin Small Letter O with acute |
| 00F4 | ô | Latin Small Letter O with circumflex |
| 00F5 | õ | Latin Small Letter O with tilde |
| 00F6 | ö | Latin Small Letter O with diaeresis |
| 00F8 | ø | Latin Small Letter O with stroke |
| 00F9 | ù | Latin Small Letter U with grave |
| 00FA | ú | Latin Small Letter U with acute |
| 00FB | û | Latin Small Letter U with circumflex |
| 00FC | ü | Latin Small Letter U with diaeresis |
| 00FD | ý | Latin Small Letter Y with acute |
| 00FE | þ | Latin Small Letter Thorn |
| 00FF | ÿ | Latin Small Letter Y with diaeresis |
62 Comments
Leave a Reply
Denis de Castro
Thanks Jack, that’s useful. Also—what’s that editor you’re using in the screenshot?
Best
ፍልይyoGEyðø¬
CTRL+SHIFT+ U+2020=
isabel
I think you do†
the person who commented
the fac† that its a dagger and its code is 2020 is not surprising at all
zE_SiMp
†rue
Kai Laurvick
do ctrl+shift+u+9099 then press [space] bar.
Butts
You can mess around with tons of things.
no u
2020=† and 2021=‡
if 2020 was a dagger getting ready to stab then 2021 is the stabbed dagger meaning 2021 will be way more painful
Jade Odom
Hey, I think this helps because I was trying to go to websites to see how I could do the upside-down (inverted) question mark and this helps.
Laimonas
How would you type + or – in Sub/Superscript. Other than that, you mate, have solved me sooo many problems so thank you.
Troll
You can do ub0 space and then you get the degree symbol.
James
You could also do ctrl+Shift+00b0 enter and you get a °. :) I don’t know if that’s in there…
Rain
This is gonna make math class so much easier
NBK2006
there is chinese in unicode, too. this is CTRL+SHIFT+U (8888)= 袈
Hector M Lugo
Wow! Why are computer makers still making this so difficult? The world is getting smaller, more people speak multiple languages than don’t in the world, yet computer makers like to pretend no one speaks anything but Enlgish. SMH
woodles
Does anyone know the code for a checkbox (tick) trying to fill out an online form is driving me crazy.
Thank you.
Jack Brualfnslkf
yeet
bob
Me too
Andra
How do you make an ¨a¨ with an over line; the long A symbol????
Ethan
Ā is U+100, and ā is U+101
Denis de Castro
@Andra Try control-shift-U and 0100 or 0101 (Wikipedia—macron (diacritic)). Cheers
Yashmyn Jackson
Jack Busch,
Thank you very much for this. You’ve just been bookmarked.
Yashmyn Jackson
Jack, unfortunately, I don’t know how to get rid of that particular photo that’s appearing with my post. I literally don’t know where that photo is stored (can’t find it on Facebook or Google), so I can’t delete it and replace it with my regular Google profile photo. Any way you could delete it and replace it with some generic image or something? Thank you for any help you can provide in ridding the Internet of that photo. :-|
john frankenfurt
omg this is awesome look at this ²
Em
What’s the pi sign ?
anonymous
its ctrl+shift+u+03c0
Some Guy
You know you can just go to insert then special characters and type the name
Hello, I'm dum
Some websites can cause viruses if you copy and paste, and also, it would just be easier to use simple codes. c:
Phoebe Tran
how do you make the oppsite arrow way of » ?
YAM
Try control + shift + u00AB
(มºਢº)༡
yeah thats it
Jeff Frane
New to chromebook and have used character map for ages. This was driving me nuts. Thank you!
Johan
A solution that works better for me is this: change your keyboard to US International Keyboard (Settings/Device/Keyboard/Change language and input settings/Input method). When you´ve done that, to get, for example, an á, you type an apostrophe followed by a; ò is the grave accent (top left) followed by o; ñ is the tilde (top left) folowed by n; Ü is double quotes followed by Shift+u, and so on. Experiment on your own; it´s quite easy to get used to. If you need the accent symbol on it´s own (as in the word it´s), simply type it twice.
This system doesn´t give access to all diacritical signs used in European languages like Polish, Czech, etc., or the German ß, but at least it´s quicker than having to look up the Unicode value.
Matthias Walter Schoener
@Johan — Agree with your points, just want to point out that the ¨scharfes s¨ *is* actually available with the international keyboard. I have German language enabled on my US Pixelbook. And with the Intl keyboard activated, if I type + s, I get ß.
Matthias Walter Schoener
that should read ¨right alt + s¨. My apologies.
jacob j hendrickson
English: OMG Thanks you
Chinese: 哦，谢谢
Katy
Very helpful! Awesome!!
YaBoiiFlare
If you do unicode 230 you will end out with this: Ȱ It’s like an omega symbol, but upside down!
David Riley
Mr. Busch. Thanks for that. As an editor, you might be able to amend the article for its online appearance. Consider the following:
“Now, type in the unicode entry for the special character you want. An em dash is “2014.”
[Instructions]
unicode chromebook special characters
Hit enter and voila, em dash: —”
The last line should read – Release the control+shift+U, then hit enter and….
Dariusz
Yet no way to insert the Euro symbol – very annoying
Richard
On my keyboard, you press right Alt and 4, it gives a euro.
Barbara A Hallowell
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! After nothing but PC’s in my life, I just made the switch to a Chromebook laptop, which I love. I have lots of friends in Ireland with fadas in their names, and I could not figure out how to alt+ keycode on this thing, then I found you :)
kylie
wow ty :) this is bookmarked also CONTROL + ALT + SHIFT + 2020 = †
:}
Richard
this is incredibly useful, many problems have been solved at a stroke, thank you,
Mike McLaren
Thanks for this!
Mark Doss
I find that “$%#$&” pretty much says anything I really need to say on Chromebook.
a guy
I know that that is not all of the unicode symbols (not counting languages)
Robert
THERE’S NO INFINITY SYMBOL!!!
(Though that was a pretty amazing list).
cameron
ctrl+shift+u+221E=∞
thomas
how do i type a snail unicode on my chromebook?
Le
welp control+shift+U+00213= ȓ
Don’t even know what and where this is used but
gabe
How do you make the ORIGINAL division sign?
pseula
Thank you so much for this! I’ve had my Chromebook since April, and have been cutting and pasting and then reformatting ë (which is in my daughter’s name, so I use it a lot!) because I could *not* find a keyboard shortcut for it!
I do seriously miss the old ALT + (numeric pad) 137 for it, along with others, but at least new codes to memorize aren’t as toilsome as what I was doing before.
Much appreciated, and bookmarked!
Tammy Dang
Does anyone know how to make a square root sign?
ajkc
this is very helpful thanks!
ajkc
You are missing some special keys
ajkc
what does ‱ mean?
ajkc
how many special characters are there?
Cool Beans
Thank you so much for this site. It has helped my algebra class and me. It is very useful, and we use these symbols very often
Kabeer
I don’t know about unicode characters,iv’e never typed them until at mar 1.
rosalie
ctrl+shift+u+00F7
Keegan
2021 unicode