How do I type a heart symbol with my keyboard?

Answer: The heart symbol (♥) is a special character that is commonly seen in online chat and social networking websites like Facebook. But there is no heart symbol key on the keyboard. So how do you type one? Just follow these simple instructions for Windows and Macintosh computers.

Windows: Press and hold the Alt key, then press 3 on the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard. This will insert the heart symbol (♥). Alt+3 is an example of a Windows Alt code, which is an easy way to enter hundreds of special characters in Windows. For example, Alt+1 inserts a smiley face (☺) and Alt+0162 inserts a cent symbol (¢).

You can discover other Alt codes by holding down Alt and pressing one to four numbers in sequence. Just make sure you use the numeric keypad, since it won't work if you use the numbers above the letters. If your keyboard doesn't have a numeric keypad, you can press the Num Lock key and use the keys that have small numbers printed on them. For example, you should see 1, 2, and 3 printed on the J, K, and L keys.

Macintosh: You can insert the heart symbol using the Mac OS X Character Palette. Most Mac programs allow you to open the Character Palette by selecting Edit → Special Characters... or by pressing the Command+Option+T keyboard shortcut.

Once the Character Palette is open, click the arrow next to the "Symbols" category, then select the "Miscellaneous Symbols" subcategory. You should see several heart icons in the ninth row. The eighth icon is the standard heart symbol. Click the heart to select it, then press the Insert button at the bottom of the character palette to insert the heart (♥) wherever your cursor is located in the current application.

If the current application will not open the Character Palette, you can add a shortcut to it on the right side of the Mac OS X menu bar. To do this, first open System Preferences, then select the "International" preference pane. In the International window, select the Input Menu, then click the checkbox next to the Character Palette, then check the box at the bottom of the window that says, "Show input menu in the menu bar." This will allow you to select the Character Palette from the flag icon in the Mac OS X menu bar.

You can use the Character Palette to select and insert many other characters and symbols besides the heart. Simply click on the different categories to view the lists of available symbols. You may be surprised at what you find.

One additional method for entering a heart symbol is simply to copy it from wherever you find one (for example, from a Web page) and paste it wherever you want. Of course, this method requires that you first find a heart symbol to copy.

To enter a heart symbol in a Web page, you can type the HTML code "♥" in the HTML to display on a heart (♥) on the page.

Published: May 20, 2010 — by Per Christensson