How to Add Degrees Symbol In Google Docs

Written by Emilija Google Workplace / Docs

- 5 min read

Many users have the need to insert different symbols such as degrees into their Google Docs documents.

This is especially true for math students who are using Google Docs for study or users who are using Google Docs to write about different mathematical topics.

There are many options for inserting symbols in Google Docs, including adding a degree symbol.

The process of including this symbol into a document is pretty easy and straightforward and in this blog post, we will show you all the ways you can use to add one in yours as well.

How to insert a degree symbol in Google Docs

In this blog post, we will go through three methods you can use to add the degree symbol in your Google Docs.

All three ways are easy-to-follow and can be used for different purposes.

Here is a shortlist of all of them:

  • Insert the degree symbol with a keyboard shortcut.
  • Insert the degree symbol with a special character menu.
  • Insert the degree symbol by changing the preferences in your Google Docs.

Let’s dive in!

First method: Keyboard shortcut

The first and easiest method you can try to add a degree symbol in your document is by keyboard shortcut.

This works for both Windows and Mac users.

  • Press ALT+0 at the same time

Other online sources suggest pressing alt 0176 should also display the degree symbol. So, if the first ALT code does not work you can try the second one.

Second method: Special character menu

The second method you can use to add the degree symbol is by using the special character menu. This method is good if you want to add the celsius symbol or the Fahrenheit symbol as well.

Additionally, you can use this to add special characters in Google Sheets as well.

  1. Click on the Insert menu, then from the drop-down menu, select the Special character's option.

google docs insert menu

  1. The quickest way to insert special characters would be to type in degrees in the search bar.

google-docs-special-characters menu

  1. From there you can choose to either add just the symbol degree, Celsius, or Fahrenheit.
  2. To insert the degree sign, just click on it.

Explore also: How to Circle Something on Google Docs

Third method: change the preferences

If you are a frequent user of a small number of special characters, in that case changing your preferences in Google Docs would be a good choice.

This means that anytime you type in a character it will be automatically replaced with another symbol.

Here is what we mean.

Every time you insert a specific symbol it can automatically be changed into the degree symbol.

Here is how you can do that:

  1. Click on the ‘Tools’ menu and select ‘Preferences’.

google-docs-tools-menu

  1. From these choose ‘Substitutions’.
  2. To do that click on the first empty field that says Replace, type in the three dashes, and in the second empty field says ‘With’ type press ALT+0.
  3. Click ‘OK’.

google docs substitutions

Choose which symbol you would like to change. For example, you can choose every time you type in three dashes to see the degree symbol.

Next time you enter the three dashes the celsius symbol should appear.

Conclusion

It is easy to insert numerous symbols in Google Docs if you have a numeric keypad and are fond of keyboard shortcuts.

But even if that is not the case, navigating through the menus and manually inserting them into your documents is pretty easy and fun.

Also, if you want to learn more about Google Docs or its other features, check out our other articles on how to insert word art and blockquotes in Google Docs.

Additionally, if you are using other text editing programs, like Microsoft Word, explore how to remove an anchor in Word