How to open and use the Character Map in Windows

You can use the Character Map to see the characters available for a selected font. The Character Map displays the following character sets:

1. Windows
2. DOS
3. Unicode

Character Map in Windows

You can copy each character or a group of characters to the clipboard, then paste them into any compatible program. Or, depending on the program you are using (such as WordPad), you can even copy characters by dragging them directly from the Character Map into an open document.

You can use the Character Map to search for characters, by looking at the Unicode character map associated with each font. Select the character in the font you choose to display the Unicode identifier. If you know the Unicode equivalent of the character you want to insert, you can also insert a special character directly into the document without using the Character Map.

This tutorial will show you how to open and use the Character Map to copy individual characters or groups of characters to the clipboard in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.

How to open and use the Character Map in Windows

Here's how:

1. Open Run ( Win+ R), enter charmap in Run and click OK to open Character Map.

2. In the Font drop-down menu , select the font you want to see the available characters.

Select the font you want to see the available characters

3. If you like, select Advanced view to select the character set ( Group set ), group by ( Group by ) or search ( Search for ) characters. If not, you can skip this step and move directly to step 7 below.

Select Advanced view to get the options

4. Select to view only Unicode, DOS, or Windows character sets

1. In the Character set drop-down menu , choose the Unicode, DOS or Windows character set you want to display.
2. If you choose Unicode , you can enter the Unicode number (eg " 2022 ") of the special character name (eg " Bullet ") you want in the Go to Unicode box to display it first in the grid.

Select to view only Unicode, DOS, or Windows character sets

5. Select how to group characters: In the Group by drop-down menu , choose how you want the characters to be grouped.

Choose how you want the characters to be grouped

6. Search for a character: In the Search for box , enter the name of the character you want to search and click the Search button .

Note : After performing a search, you can click the Reset buttonto reset the search.

7. Copy a character

A) Select a special character you want to insert.

Select a special character you want to insert

B) Click the Select button .

Note: If you want to insert a group of characters, repeat steps 7A and 7B to select additional characters.

Click the Select button

C) When finished selecting characters to insert, click the Copy button to copy the selected characters to the clipboard. If you select only one character, you will see the keystroke you can press to insert that character into the document.

Click the Copy button to copy the selected characters

8. Insert special characters into the document

A) In the document, locate the insertion point (cursor) where you want the special character (s) to appear.

B) Paste ( Ctrl+ V) the selected characters from the clipboard.