Where Is the Degree Symbol on a Keyboard — and How Do You Type It?

The degree symbol (°) doesn't have its own dedicated key on most keyboards. That surprises a lot of people, especially when they need it for temperatures, angles, or coordinates and can't find it anywhere. The good news: there are several reliable ways to type it, and which method works best depends on your operating system, keyboard layout, and how often you actually need it.

Why Keyboards Don't Have a Dedicated Degree Key

Standard keyboard layouts — QWERTY being the most common — were designed around the characters most frequently used in everyday writing. The degree symbol is useful but not frequent enough to earn its own physical key. Instead, it lives in the extended character set, accessible through shortcuts, numeric codes, or character maps depending on your platform.

Some international keyboard layouts do include it more accessibly. French AZERTY keyboards, for example, place it within easier reach. But on a standard US English keyboard, you'll need to go a different route.

How to Type the Degree Symbol on Windows ⌨️

Windows offers a few methods, each suited to different workflows:

Method 1: Alt Code (Numeric Keypad) Hold down Alt and type 0176 on the numeric keypad (not the number row at the top). Release Alt and ° appears. This only works if your keyboard has a dedicated numeric keypad and Num Lock is on.

Method 2: Character Map Open the Start menu, search for Character Map, find the degree symbol, and copy it. Reliable but slow — better for one-off use than regular typing.

Method 3: Copy and Paste Many people simply Google "degree symbol," copy it from the results, and paste it. Practical for occasional use, not ideal if you're typing temperature data all day.

Method 4: Windows Emoji Panel Press Windows key + period (.) to open the emoji and symbols panel. Search "degree" and insert it directly. This works in most modern apps on Windows 10 and 11.

Method 5: Word Processors with AutoCorrect Microsoft Word and Google Docs both support custom shortcuts. In Word, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to ° through Insert → Symbol → More Symbols → Shortcut Key. Once set, it's the fastest method for regular writers.

How to Type the Degree Symbol on Mac

Mac makes this slightly more streamlined:

Keyboard Shortcut: Press Option + Shift + 8 and the ° symbol appears immediately. This works across most native macOS apps and many third-party ones. No setup required.

This is the fastest method on Mac and worth memorizing if you type the symbol with any regularity.

If the shortcut doesn't work in a specific app, the Character Viewer (accessed via Edit menu or by pressing Control + Command + Space) gives you a searchable panel of every available symbol.

How to Type the Degree Symbol on iPhone and Android 📱

Mobile keyboards handle this differently from desktop systems.

On iPhone (iOS): Tap and hold the 0 (zero) key on the numeric keyboard. A degree symbol option pops up above it. Slide to select it.

On Android: This varies by keyboard app. On Gboard (Google's keyboard), switch to the numbers view and look for ° directly — it's often visible without needing to hold or long-press. On Samsung's keyboard, tap the symbols key and it appears in the extended symbol set. Third-party keyboard apps like SwiftKey handle it similarly.

Quick Reference by Platform

Unicode and HTML — for Developers and Content Editors

If you're working in code, web content, or plain text files, the degree symbol has specific representations worth knowing:

• Unicode: U+00B0
• HTML entity:°
• HTML numeric:°

Using ° in HTML is the most reliable method for web content, since it renders correctly across browsers and character encodings without depending on how the file is saved.

The Variable That Changes Everything

The "best" method isn't universal — it shifts based on a few key factors:

How often you need it. Someone writing occasional emails doesn't need the same setup as a technical writer documenting temperature specifications daily. A one-time copy-paste is fine for the former; a configured keyboard shortcut or AutoCorrect rule pays off for the latter.

Your keyboard hardware. The Alt+0176 method requires a numeric keypad, which laptops often omit. Without one, that approach is unavailable — and the Windows emoji panel or a configured shortcut fills the gap.

Your operating system and apps. Mac's Option+Shift+8 works nearly everywhere on macOS. Windows shortcuts can behave inconsistently across different applications. Browser-based tools like Google Docs have their own symbol insertion logic that doesn't always respond to OS-level shortcuts.

Your technical comfort level. Setting up a custom AutoCorrect rule or keyboard shortcut takes a few minutes but is simple. Using Unicode entities requires knowing when plain text will render HTML — relevant for web editors, invisible to most casual users. 🔍

The degree symbol is a small thing, but how efficiently you type it depends entirely on which combination of hardware, software, and frequency applies to your situation.