How to Insert a Degree Symbol in Excel (Every Method Explained)

The degree symbol (°) is one of those small characters that comes up constantly — temperature readings, angles, geographic coordinates — yet Excel doesn't give it an obvious home on the ribbon. There's no dedicated button, and typing it directly from a standard keyboard isn't intuitive. The good news: there are at least five reliable ways to insert it, and which one works best depends on how you're working and how often you need it.

Why Excel Doesn't Make This Obvious

Excel is built around numbers and formulas, not typographic symbols. The degree symbol is a Unicode character (U+00B0) that lives outside the standard alphanumeric keys on most keyboards. That means you need to either invoke it through a shortcut, pull it from a character library, or build it into a formula — all of which Excel supports, just not prominently.

Method 1: Keyboard Shortcut (Windows)

The fastest approach on Windows is the Alt code shortcut:

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

⌨️ This only works with the numeric keypad active. On laptops without a dedicated numpad, you may need to enable Num Lock and use the Fn key combination, or this method won't function reliably.

Method 2: Keyboard Shortcut (Mac)

On a Mac, the shortcut is simpler:

• Press Option + Shift + 8

This works consistently across Mac keyboards without needing a numpad, making it the go-to method for Mac users.

Method 3: Copy-Paste the Symbol Directly

The bluntest and most universally compatible method — just copy the degree symbol from here: ° and paste it into your cell. This works on any device, any OS, any Excel version. It's not elegant, but it's zero-friction if you only need it occasionally.

Method 4: Insert Symbol Dialog

For users who don't want to memorize shortcuts:

1. Click the target cell
2. Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon
3. Select Symbol (far right of the ribbon)
4. In the dialog, set the font to (normal text) and the subset to Latin-1 Supplement
5. Locate the degree symbol (°), click Insert, then Close

This method is slower but works on all versions of Excel for Windows and Mac, and doesn't require any keyboard memorization. It's also useful when you're hunting for multiple special characters in one session.

Method 5: CHAR Function in a Formula

If you're building data programmatically — such as combining a number with a unit label — the CHAR function is the cleanest approach:

=A1&CHAR(176) 

This appends the degree symbol to whatever value is in cell A1. For example, if A1 contains 98.6, the result displays as 98.6°.

Important note: Cells using this formula return text, not numbers. If you need to perform further calculations on those values, keep the raw numbers in a separate column and apply the degree label only in a display column.

Method 6: AutoCorrect Shortcut (Custom Setup)

If you insert the degree symbol frequently, you can set up a custom AutoCorrect entry to automate it:

1. Go to File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options
2. In the Replace field, type a trigger string (e.g., deg)
3. In the With field, paste the ° symbol
4. Click Add, then OK

From then on, typing deg followed by a space or punctuation will automatically convert to °. This approach takes two minutes to configure and saves time across every future use — but it does change behavior globally in Excel (and sometimes across other Office apps), which matters in shared or enterprise environments.

Factors That Affect Which Method Works for You

Not every method is equally accessible across all setups:

• Keyboard type — Laptops without a numeric keypad make the Alt+0176 shortcut unreliable or unusable
• Operating system — Windows and Mac shortcuts are completely different; web-based Excel (Excel for the Web) may not support Alt codes at all
• Excel version — Excel for the Web has a more limited Insert Symbol interface compared to the desktop app
• Frequency of use — Occasional use favors copy-paste or the Insert dialog; frequent use justifies setting up AutoCorrect or learning the shortcut
• Data type needs — If degree values need to stay numeric for calculations, CHAR() in a display formula is the right architectural choice; if they're purely labels, any method works

🖥️ Users working across multiple devices — say, a Windows desktop and a Mac laptop — may find themselves using different methods depending on where they're working that day.

A Note on Formatting vs. Appending

There's a meaningful distinction between appending the degree symbol as a text character and formatting a cell to display it automatically. Excel's custom number format lets you do the latter:

1. Right-click a cell → Format Cells
2. Go to Number → Custom
3. Enter a format like 0"°" or 0.0"°"

With this approach, the cell still holds a plain number internally — Excel just displays it with a degree symbol. This is often the best of both worlds for columns of temperature or angle data: the values stay calculable, and the display looks clean.

The right choice between appending, CHAR(), and custom formatting depends on whether your data feeds into further calculations, how the spreadsheet is shared, and whether consistent visual formatting matters across the whole column — details that vary considerably from one workbook to the next.