On Windows 11 , you have two easy ways to insert symbols when writing a document, email, text message, or social media post, and in this guide, you will learn how. If you ever wrote anything on your computer, you probably had to use the “ALT” key plus code or search online to insert a symbol (for example, em dash, more than and less than, arrows, and many others), which is very inconvenient for something so simple.

However, Windows 11 comes with an emoji panel that lets you quickly insert symbols and kaomoji (face characters) in addition to emojis, so you don’t have to remember any “ALT” codes or use extra steps. Windows still comes with “Character Map,” a legacy application that includes all the symbols you will ever need to insert.

This guide will teach you the easy steps to insert symbols and kaomoji in documents, text files, emails, and social media posts on Windows 11 (or 10).

  • Insert symbols from emoji panel
  • Insert symbols from Character Map

Insert symbols from emoji panel

To insert symbols or kaomoji on Windows 11, use these steps:

  1. Open an app on Windows 11.
  2. Use the “Windows key + . (period)” or “Windows key + ; (semicolon)” keyboard shortcut to open the emoji panel.
  3. Click the Symbols tab. (Or the character face button to access the available kaomoji.)
  4. Select the symbols you want to insert. Quick tip: If you can’t find the symbol, you can switch between the tabs to look into the available symbols on Windows 11, including punctuation, currency, geometry, math, Latin, and language.

Once you complete the steps, the symbol will appear in the document, and you use them, the most frequently used will appear in the “most recently used” tab to make it even easier to select them the next time.

Insert symbols from Character Map

To use the legacy Character Map app to insert symbols on Windows 11, use these steps:

  1. Open Start .
  2. Search for Character Map and click the top result to open the app.
  3. Select the symbol you want to use.
  4. Click the Copy button.

After you complete the steps, you can insert the symbol by right-clicking and selecting the “Paste” option (or using the “Ctrl + V” keyboard shortcut).

  • To set up a fingerprint reader on Windows 11, open Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options , select “Fingerprint recognition,” click “Set up,” click “Get started,” and use the sensor to register your fingerprint.

On Windows 11 , you can set up a fingerprint reader to sign in using only your finger, and here’s how. Windows Hello is the name of the feature that Microsoft has chosen to describe the support for more secure ways to sign in to Windows 11 using biometric and Personal Identification Number (PIN) authentication.

This feature allows you to replace a traditional complex and less secure password with a more secure and easy-to-use authentication method, including facial recognition , fingerprint, and PIN to unlock a Windows 11 computer.

This guide will teach you how to configure and remove Windows Hello using a fingerprint reader on Windows 11.

  • Enable Windows Hello fingerprint recognition
  • Remove Windows Hello fingerprint recognition
  • Windows Hello compatible hardware

Enable Windows Hello fingerprint recognition

To unlock Windows 11 using a fingerprint reader, use these steps:

  1. Open Settings on Windows 11.
  2. Click on Accounts .
  3. Click the Sign-in options tab.
  4. Under the “Ways to sign in” section, select the Fingerprint recognition setting.
  5. Click the “Set up” button to enable the Windows Hello fingerprint feature.
  6. Click the Get started button.
  7. Confirm your Windows 11 account password.
  8. Touch the fingerprint sensor as indicated in the wizard.
  9. Continue with the on-screen directions to capture your fingerprint from various angles. Quick tip: It’s recommended to click the “Add another finger” option to configure a second and even a third finger you can use if you encounter problems signing in.

Once you complete the steps, you should be able to lock your device (including using the “Windows key + L” keyboard shortcut) and then use the fingerprint reader to sign in with the finger that you configured.

Remove Windows Hello fingerprint recognition

To remove the Windows Hello fingerprint on Windows 11, use these steps:

  1. Open Settings .
  2. Click on Accounts .
  3. Click the Sign-in options tab.
  4. Under the “Ways to sign in” section, select the Fingerprint recognition setting.
  5. Click the Remove button.
  6. Click the Remove button again to disable the Windows Hello fingerprint option.
  7. Confirm the Windows 11 account password.
  8. Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, you can continue signing in with a traditional password. If you have configured Facial recognition or PIN, you must remove those configurations using the same steps to disable the Windows Hello feature entirely on Windows 11.

Windows Hello compatible hardware

If you want to sign in to Windows 11 using your facial recognition or fingerprint, you can find many devices with Windows Hello built-in, such as the Surface Pro 8 , Surface Laptop 4 , Surface Go 3 , and many others.