From copyright symbols to plain checkmarks, special characters and symbols are needed now and then. So, you may be surprised to know that Google Sheets has no way to insert a special character or symbol into its menu!

Thankfully, there are two workarounds that will help you jump the hurdle—allowing you to insert a special character or symbol into your Google sheet and work better on Google Drive.

Method 1: Use the Windows Character Map to Insert a Symbol Into Google Sheets

Windows Character Map Screenshot

If you are on Windows 10 (or any other version), then you can use the native Character Map to copy and paste a special character into a Google Sheet. While it's frustrating to have to open Windows to access characters, it's a relatively pain-free workaround.

  1. Launch the Character Map.
  2. Pick the desired font for your special characters. Double-click on the characters that you want to use. Press the Copy button to copy the characters to the clipboard.
  3. Open your Google Spreadsheet. Paste the characters (Ctrl + V or right-click and paste) into the cell that you want.

If you have Windows installed on your PC, then try this method to insert a symbol into Google Sheets. If you don't have Windows, then you can either buy it or try one of these ways to install Windows XP for free.

Method 2: Use Google Docs to Add a Symbol to Your Google Sheets

Insert Special Character Google Doc

Google Drive isn't perfect, and there are a number of common Google Drive issues. Surprisingly, Google Docs has a native Character Map, which is missing on Google Sheets.

So, this can become the tool to “share” a special character within the same Google Drive. If you don't have Windows or would prefer to just work within Drive, then this is the easiest way to add a special character or symbol to a Google Sheet document.

  1. Open your spreadsheet and also open a Google Doc.
  2. Click on Insert > Special Characters.
  3. The special character is inserted into Google Docs first. Copy this special character in Google Docs and paste it into your spreadsheet.

Using Special Characters and Symbols

Whether you're trying to insert Greek letters into your sheet, add a Copywrite symbol, or an accented letter, these two methods will help to solve the problem of “missing” special characters in Google Sheets.