How to Add a Trademark Symbol in Microsoft Word

The trademark symbol (™) shows up everywhere in business documents, product descriptions, legal filings, and marketing materials. Adding it in Microsoft Word is straightforward once you know where to look — but there are actually several different methods, and the right one depends on how you work and how often you need it.

What the Trademark Symbol Actually Is

Before getting into the how, it helps to understand what you're inserting. The ™ symbol is a Unicode character (U+2122). It signals that a name, logo, or phrase is being claimed as a trademark, even without formal registration. The ® (registered trademark) symbol is different — that one is reserved for marks officially registered with a trademark authority.

Word treats ™ as a standard text character, not an image, so it scales with your font, copies cleanly, and works in any document format.

Method 1: AutoCorrect (The Fastest Way)

Word includes a built-in AutoCorrect shortcut that most users never notice. Type (tm) — with the parentheses — and Word automatically converts it to ™ as soon as you press Space or move on.

This works because Word's AutoCorrect list includes (tm) → ™ by default. If it isn't working, check under:

File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options → AutoCorrect tab

Look for the (tm) entry in the Replace/With list. If it's missing, you can add it manually by typing (tm) in the Replace field and ™ in the With field.

⚠️ One thing to watch: AutoCorrect fires automatically, which is helpful most of the time but can be disruptive if you're documenting code or literally writing "(tm)" as text. You can press Ctrl+Z immediately after the autocorrect fires to undo just that substitution without losing the rest of your work.

Method 2: Keyboard Shortcut

Word has a built-in shortcut for the trademark symbol:

Alt + Ctrl + T

Press all three keys simultaneously and ™ appears at your cursor position. This works in most versions of Word on Windows. It doesn't trigger AutoCorrect, so there's no unintended substitution — just an immediate insert.

On a Mac, the equivalent shortcut is:

Option + 2

This inserts ™ directly and works system-wide, not just in Word.

Method 3: Insert Symbol Dialog

If you want to browse and insert characters manually — useful when you're also looking for ® or © at the same time — use Word's Symbol menu:

1. Go to Insert → Symbol → More Symbols
2. In the Font dropdown, select (normal text)
3. In the Subset dropdown, choose Letterlike Symbols
4. Find ™ and click Insert

This dialog also shows the keyboard shortcut assigned to any symbol, so it's a good place to discover or confirm shortcuts you might not have known.

Method 4: Unicode Entry (Windows)

On Windows, you can type the Unicode code point directly:

1. Type 2122
2. Immediately press Alt + X

Word converts the number to ™ on the spot. This method works in Word but not in most other applications, so it's specifically a Word trick worth knowing if you insert Unicode characters frequently.

Method 5: Copy-Paste

The most universal approach — works in every version of Word, on every OS, in every document format. Copy ™ from a reliable source (another document, a website, or your operating system's character viewer) and paste it. On Mac, the Character Viewer (Edit → Emoji & Symbols in most apps) gives you searchable access to every Unicode character.

Formatting the Trademark Symbol

By default, ™ inherits the font size and style of surrounding text. In some typographic contexts — especially body text — the symbol looks oversized. A common approach is to apply superscript formatting:

1. Select just the ™ character
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + = (Windows) or Command + Shift + = (Mac) to toggle superscript

This raises and shrinks the symbol to sit above the baseline, which is how you typically see it in professional and legal documents. Whether you use superscript is a style choice, not a technical requirement.

Comparing the Methods at a Glance

When the Method Matters More Than It Seems

For most users inserting an occasional trademark symbol, any of these methods works fine. The variables that change the equation are frequency and workflow. Someone drafting legal documents all day and inserting ™ dozens of times will want a muscle-memory shortcut or a custom AutoText entry. Someone working in a template-heavy environment might prefer to have ™ baked into the template itself so no one has to think about it.

Document format also plays a role. If you're saving as plain text (.txt), Unicode characters like ™ may not render correctly depending on the encoding. In .docx, .pdf, or HTML exports from Word, ™ behaves exactly as expected. 🖥️

The version of Word matters less than it once did — these methods have been stable across Word 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365. The Mac shortcuts differ from Windows, but both platforms have had reliable trademark insertion for years.

What actually varies is which method fits naturally into how you already work — and that depends on things like how often you're switching between keyboard and mouse, whether you use Word on one platform or several, and how your document templates are structured.