How to Insert a Degree Symbol in Excel: Every Method Explained

Whether you're logging temperatures, recording angles, or formatting geographic coordinates, the degree symbol (°) is one of those small characters that spreadsheets constantly demand — and Excel doesn't make it immediately obvious how to type one. The good news: there are at least five reliable ways to insert it, and which one works best depends entirely on how you work.

Why Excel Doesn't Just Let You Type It

The degree symbol isn't on a standard keyboard. It's a Unicode character (U+00B0) that sits outside the basic alphanumeric keys, which means every operating system and application handles it slightly differently. Excel itself doesn't add friction — the issue is at the OS and keyboard input level. Once you know the right method for your setup, inserting a degree symbol becomes a two-second task.

Method 1: Keyboard Shortcut (Windows)

The fastest option for most Windows users is the Alt code method:

1. Click the cell where you want the symbol
2. Hold Alt and type 0176 on the numeric keypad (not the top-row numbers)
3. Release Alt — the ° symbol appears instantly

This works in any Windows application, not just Excel. The catch: it requires a physical numeric keypad. Laptop users without a dedicated numpad will either need to enable Num Lock on a function-key numpad or use a different method entirely.

Method 2: Keyboard Shortcut (Mac)

On macOS, the shortcut is simpler and doesn't require a numpad:

• Press Option + Shift + 8 anywhere in Excel

This works consistently across Mac keyboards and doesn't depend on any Excel settings. If you're on a Mac and type degree symbols regularly, this is the method worth memorizing.

Method 3: Copy-Paste from the Symbol Dialog

Excel has a built-in symbol library that works on both Windows and Mac:

1. Go to Insert → Symbol in the ribbon
2. In the Symbol dialog, set the font to normal text and the subset to Latin-1 Supplement
3. Find the ° character (or search by character code: 00B0)
4. Click Insert

This method is reliable when you're not sure about shortcuts, or when you're using a keyboard layout that behaves unexpectedly. The downside is the extra clicks — it's more useful for a one-time insertion than repeated use. 🔍

Method 4: CHAR Function

If you're building formulas that need to display a degree symbol as part of a text string, the CHAR function is your best tool:

=A1&CHAR(176) 

This formula takes the value in A1 and appends a degree symbol directly. For example, if A1 contains 98.6, the result displays as 98.6°.

On Windows, the character code is 176. On Mac, use CHAR(176) as well — Excel for Mac aligns with the Windows character set for this function, so the code is consistent across platforms.

This approach is particularly useful when:

• You're concatenating temperature or angle data with labels
• You want the symbol to appear dynamically based on cell values
• You're building a formatted report or dashboard

Method 5: Custom Number Format

If you want every number in a column to display with a degree symbol without manually adding it each time, custom number formatting is the cleanest solution:

1. Select the cells you want to format
2. Press Ctrl+1 (or Cmd+1 on Mac) to open Format Cells
3. Go to the Number tab → Custom
4. Enter this format code: 0° or 0.0°
5. Click OK

The cells will now display the ° symbol automatically after any number you enter. Critically, the underlying cell value stays numeric — so you can still use those cells in calculations, averages, and formulas without breaking anything. This is a major advantage over typing the symbol directly into the cell, which converts the value to text.

Comparing the Methods at a Glance 📊

The Variables That Change Which Method Makes Sense

A few factors shift the right answer for different users:

Your hardware matters immediately. No numeric keypad means the Alt code method is off the table on Windows — and many compact laptops, Bluetooth keyboards, and 60% keyboards skip the numpad entirely.

Your version of Excel plays a minor role. The Symbol dialog and CHAR function are consistent across Excel 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365. Older versions behave similarly, but the ribbon layout may look slightly different.

How often you're doing this changes the calculus significantly. Occasional use favors the symbol dialog or a simple copy-paste. Regular entry in a structured dataset points toward custom number formatting or a formula approach.

Whether the data needs to stay numeric is the most commonly overlooked factor. If you type ° directly into a cell alongside a number, Excel may store it as text. That silently breaks SUM, AVERAGE, and any formula referencing that cell. Custom number formatting and CHAR-based formulas avoid this entirely.

Your OS and keyboard locale can affect Alt codes and some input methods in ways that aren't always predictable — particularly on non-English keyboard layouts where modifier key behavior sometimes differs. 🖥️

The method that's genuinely fastest and most reliable depends on the intersection of those factors — your keyboard, your workflow, how the data will be used downstream, and how often the symbol appears in your spreadsheets.