How to Copy and Paste Special Characters

Desktop

1. Select the character or symbol - drag across it, or use a dedicated copy button where one is provided.
2. Copy it with Ctrl+C (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+C (Mac), or the copy button itself.
3. Click into the destination field and paste with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V.

Mobile

On a phone, tap and hold the character until a selection handle appears, drag to select it if needed, then tap Copy from the menu that appears. Tap and hold in the destination field and choose Paste. A dedicated copy button - which every symbol and emoji page on this site includes - skips the manual selection step entirely.

Copying emoji specifically

Emoji copy and paste exactly like any other character, including multi-part sequences (see Emoji vs Symbols) - selecting and copying an emoji copies the whole sequence as one unit, not just part of it. A copy button is the more reliable option for a multi-character emoji sequence, since manual selection can sometimes miss an invisible joining character.

Copying symbols specifically

Text symbols like a heart, a star, or a degree sign copy the same way as any letter. Where a symbol is a sequence rather than a single character - covered in Unicode Symbols Explained - copying the whole thing at once (rather than trying to select part of it) is what preserves it correctly.

If a character shows as a box or question mark

• The character copied correctly - this is a display issue on the reading side, not a copying mistake. See Why Does Fancy Text Look Different? for why.
• Try pasting the same text somewhere else (a note app, a different browser) to confirm whether it's the destination field specifically, or the device's font coverage in general.
• If a field needs to display reliably for a wide audience, prefer plain letters and widely supported symbols over less common Unicode blocks.

If pasting fails entirely

Some fields (particularly usernames) actively reject characters outside a plain allow-list, rather than displaying them oddly - the paste will simply not go through, or the character will be silently stripped. See How Unicode Usernames Work for why that happens and where it's most common.