How to get an em dash on microsoft word

When you need an em dash, you can let Word enter it for you the easy way. If that approach doesn't suit your needs, try one of three manual methods. Now, this default won't work for everyone every single time. If you find yourself doing this a lot, it might be more efficient to disable the AutoCorrect option and enter an em dash, when you require it, manually.

You can disable this option as follows:. After disabling the AutoCorrect option, you'll have to enter an em dash manually. Fortunately, there are three easy methods:. Be your company's Microsoft insider by reading these Windows and Office tips, tricks, and cheat sheets. Delivered Mondays and Wednesdays. Avantix Learning courses are offered online in virtual classroom format or as in-person classroom training.

Our hands-on, instructor-led courses are available both as public scheduled courses or on demand as a custom training solution. All Avantix Learning courses include a comprehensive course manual including tips, tricks and shortcuts as well as sample and exercise files. Inserting an em or en dash using Insert Symbol You can use the Insert Symbol command to insert special characters in Word documents.

To insert an em or en dash using Insert Symbol: Click where you want to insert the em dash or en dash. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon. In the Symbols group, click Symbol. A drop-down menu appears. Click More Symbols. A dialog box appears. In Word, there are two tabs at the top of the dialog box.

Click the Special Characters tab. Click Em Dash or En Dash. Click Insert. Click Close. Below is the Insert Symbol dialog box in Word: 2. Inserting an em or en dash using AutoFormat as you type There are built-in options that are turned on by default in AutoCorrect in the AutoFormat as you type settings. To insert an em dash using AutoFormat as you type: Type a word with no space after it. Type two dashes or hyphens with no space between or after them.

Type another word. Press the Spacebar. To insert an en dash using AutoFormat as you type: Type a word. Type a single dash or hyphen. If you are lazy to use the keyboard, you can as well copy and paste the symbol into your document. If you are on Windows, press and hold the Alt key and type the Em Dash alt code which is on the numeric keypad, then release the alt key. The above quick guide provides some useful information about the Em Dash symbol including shortcuts and alt codes you can use on both Windows and Mac.

However, below are some other methods you can also employ to insert this symbol into your Word document. Microsoft Word provides several methods for typing or inserting symbols that do not have dedicated keys on the keyboard.

In this section, I will make available for you five different methods you can use to type or insert the Em Dash symbol in Word for both Mac and Windows users. The Em Dash Symbol alt code is Even though the Em dash symbol does not have a dedicated key on the keyboard, it can still be typed using the Alt Numpad Input Method which is also known as the Alt code method.

This can be done by pressing and holding the Alt key whilst pressing the Em dash symbol Alt code using the numeric keypad. This method is for Windows only.

And your keyboard must also have a numeric keypad. The [Num -] key means the minus key on the numeric keypad on the Windows Keyboard. Another easy way to get the Em Dash symbol on any PC is to use my favorite method: copy and paste.