Special characters

Copy common symbols and special characters with one click.

Click a character to copy it to the clipboard.

You are halfway through a document and you need an arrow, a degree sign, or a ± that simply isn't on the keyboard. The usual answer is to hunt through a character map or search the web and copy from a random page.

This board keeps the commonly used symbols in one place, sorted into five groups. Click one and it goes to your clipboard — then just paste.

How it works

How to use it

Click any character on the board. It is copied to your clipboard immediately and a short Copied note confirms which one. Paste with Ctrl+V (⌘V on a Mac). There is nothing to type and no button to press afterwards.

The five groups

Group	Examples
Arrows	← → ↑ ↓ ↔ ⇒ ⇔ ➜ ↗ ↘
Shapes & symbols	★ ☆ ● ○ ◆ ■ ▲ ♥ ♠ ✓ ✗ ※
Math & units	± × ÷ ≠ ≤ ≥ ∞ √ ∑ ∫ π ° ‰ ℃ ₩ € £
Brackets & punctuation	「」『』〈〉《》【】· … ― § © ® ™
Circled & numbers	① ② ③ ⓐ ⓑ Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ

If the pasted symbol looks wrong

Every character here is standard Unicode, so it travels between applications correctly. What changes is the font: a symbol may render narrower, bolder, or as an empty box if the destination font has no glyph for it. Switching the target text to a font with wide coverage usually fixes the appearance. In plain-text contexts such as source code, filenames, or URL slugs, prefer ASCII equivalents — many systems handle these characters inconsistently there.

If clicking doesn't copy

Clipboard access needs a secure connection and, in some browsers, a permission grant. If nothing is copied, check that the page is on https, allow clipboard access when prompted, and try again. Failing that, select the character with your mouse and copy manually. Some privacy-focused browsers and older mobile browsers block scripted clipboard writes entirely.

Terms explained

Unicode: The international standard that assigns every character a fixed identity, so a symbol copied in one program appears as the same character in another.
Glyph: The visual drawing of a character in a particular font. A missing glyph shows as a box or a question mark even though the underlying character is intact.
Clipboard: The temporary holding area the operating system uses for copy and paste. It holds one item at a time, so a new click replaces the previous character.
Full-width character: A symbol drawn at the width of an East Asian character, such as the corner brackets 「」. It occupies more horizontal space than an ASCII bracket.

Frequently asked questions

Nothing happens when I click a character. What's wrong?

Browsers only allow scripted clipboard writes on secure (https) pages, and some ask for permission first. Confirm the page is on https, accept any clipboard prompt, and retry. If your browser blocks it outright, select the character by hand and copy it the usual way.

Can I copy several symbols at once?

Not by clicking — each click replaces the clipboard contents with a single character. Paste the first one into your document, then come back and click the next.

Why does the symbol look different after pasting?

The character is correct; the font is doing the rendering. If the destination font lacks a glyph for that symbol it falls back to another font or shows a box. Choosing a font with broader coverage resolves it.

Is it safe to use these in filenames or URLs?

Generally not. Many systems mishandle non-ASCII symbols in filenames, and URLs will percent-encode them into long unreadable strings. Keep them in document text and use plain ASCII where a system reads the value.

Do these work in Excel, Word, and email?

Yes. All of them are standard Unicode characters that paste normally into word processors, spreadsheets, and email clients. In Excel, be aware that a cell starting with a symbol is stored as text, not as a number.