Entering a Degree Sign

Beverly knows that she can add a temperature degree symbol to her document by using the Symbol dialog box. She wonders, though, if there is a keyboard shortcut for adding the symbol. The shortcut would make typing much faster and easier.

When you display the Symbol dialog box and select the character you want to insert (in this case the degree symbol), you should see some information about the character at the bottom of the dialog box. In this case, you see the value 176 (the ASCII value for the degree symbol) or 00B0 (the Unicode value for the degree symbol, in hexadecimal). You should also see a shortcut for the symbol which is "ALT+0176" (without the quote marks). This information provides two ways you can use the keyboard to enter the degree symbol.

The first way is to use the ASCII value to enter the character. Just press ALT+0176 and then press the spacebar. Bingo! The degree symbol appears in your document.

You could also use the Unicode value to enter the character. Type 00B0 (although you can leave off the leading zeroes) and then press Alt+X.

If you choose to go the route of using the Unicode value, you should understand that what you have before the code is important. If you have some other number immediately before the code (especially if you shorten the code to B0), Word gets confused because it can't tell if the preceding number is part of the code or not. The solution is to put a space before the code and then delete it afterward.

If you don't want to use one of these methods to enter the degree symbol, you could also create your own shortcut. Display the Symbol dialog box, select the degree symbol, and then click the Shortcut Key button. Word then lets you decide which shortcut you want to use.

Another approach is to create an AutoCorrect entry for the degree symbol. Follow these steps:

1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing.
3. Click the AutoCorrect Options button. Word displays the AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

4. In the Replace box, enter a mnemonic you want to use, such as "<o>" (without the quote marks).
5. With the insertion point in the With box, hold down the Alt key as you type 0176 on the numeric keypad.
6. Click on Add. Your new AutoCorrect definition is added to those already maintained by Word.
7. Click on OK.

Now, whenever you want a degree symbol all you need to do is type your mnemonic (the one you entered in step 4) and when you press the spacebar Word expands it to your degree symbol.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7719) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Entering a Degree Sign.