How to Quickly Add Emojis in Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook has established itself as a world-renowned solution. In fact, as tracked by 6sense, more than 3.3 million companies use Outlook as a communication system, accounting for at least 40% of the market share in the email management category. This is not surprising, considering the many good features that Outlook offers. Beyond email functionality, it can also ignore conversations, share Outlook calendars, remind you to attach files to your messages, and even name people in an email.

However, even though you can use Outlook to create official emails like client proposals and advanced reports, you’ll still find it light, conversational, where emojis are welcome. Both the desktop and web versions of Outlook include emoji selectors, but they’re tucked away behind most of the buttons on the Insert tab. If you don’t want to go around and just add a happy face to your message, there are quick ways to do that.

Adding Emojis in the Windows desktop app

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If you’re using the Outlook desktop application (either free or consumer), there are two ways to insert emojis into your messages with a few clicks. The first step is to drag the emoji selector. In the Outlook dialog box, move your cursor to where you want to add an emoji. Next, press the Windows keyboard shortcut Win + . (time) or Win +; (semi-colon). If you’re on a Mac, it’s Control + Command + Space. An emoji selector will appear on the screen, and you can browse through the options to find the one you want to use.

The second option is to set up shortcuts for emojis that you use frequently. Here’s how to do it:

1. Reply to an existing email or create a new email in the Outlook desktop application.
2. Go to Insert > Symbol > Other Symbols.
3. Change Font to Segoe UI Emoji and Subset to Additional Attributes – Plane 1.
4. Click on your favorite emoji.
5. Click the AutoCorrect button below.
6. In the Replace field, type the shortcut you want to use. Make sure that it is not a common word that is already in the automatic control list. To be safe, you can choose to use symbols like :]or ^.^ as your shortcut.
7. Click on Add.
8. Click OK to exit the dialog box.
9. Close the Symbol picker dialog box.
10. In the response box, try using your shortcut. It should be replaced with an emoji of your choice.

Adding Emojis in a web application

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When using the Outlook web app, you have two ways to quickly add emojis to your messages. The first is to use the emoji picker built into your computer. This feature is not available in the Outlook desktop app and in any box on your device. This means that you can also use it in your browser. On a Windows PC, press Win + . or Win +; drag the emoji selector. On macOS, use Control + Command + Space.

The Outlook web app also offers its own emoji selection. To find it, type a new or existing email and enter a colon (:) in the reply field. You should see an emoji selector on the screen, made up of six frequently used emojis (laughter and tears, heart, heart eyes, change, shy, and unhappy). To view more information, click on the three horizontal dots. This opens an additional emoji selection on the right side of the screen. You can switch between tabs such as smiles, people, animals and nature, food and drinks, travel and places, things, and symbols to find the emoji you want to add. Alternatively, there is a search bar at the top, where you can enter the name of the emoji.