If you are chatting or hanging out on sites likeFacebook or Twitter regularly you often want to spice up your messages. Many users make use emoticons like : ) to express their state of mind, some on the other hand would like something special, and that’s where special characters come into play.
Hold down the ALT key on the keyboard, press a number on the numeric keypad afterwards and release the ALT key again. Laptop users often need to press Fn instead for the same effect.
Here is a useful list characters I use the most:
- ☺
- ☻
- ♥
- ♦
- ♣
- ♠
- •
- ◘
- ○
- ◙
- ♂
- ♀
- ♪
- ♫
- ☼
- ►
- ◄
- ↕
- ‼
- ¶
To get the complete list visit: http://www.alt-codes.net/
The number in front refers to the keys that need to be pressed to create the special character. Desktop users need to use the numeric keypad for this, laptop users without a numeric keypad need to locate the blue keys on their keyboard which substitute the keypad. To write a heart symbol one would press ALT, then the 3 on the numeric pad before releasing ALT again. The character appears ONLY after the ALT key is released.
Ps: For Outlook users, if you think you can insert symbols using menu, it will end up as junk characters in another email client other than outlook. For example your ☺ looks like a “J” in other clients. So, better use it this way.