How to Type in Wingdings

Two ways to write in Wingdings

There are two quite different ways to get Wingdings on screen, and knowing which one you are using saves a lot of confusion.

1. Change the font. In Word you type normal letters and set the font to Wingdings. The letters are still there, but the font draws a picture for each one.
2. Use Unicode symbols. The Wingdings translator replaces each letter with a real symbol character, such as the victory hand (✌︎) for capital A. These symbols are text in their own right, so they need no special font.

The first method is fine for a document you print or keep on your own computer. The second is the one to use for anything you send to someone else.

Wingdings in Word for Windows

1. Select the text you want to change, or click where you are about to type.
2. On the Home tab, open the font box in the Font group and choose Wingdings.
3. Type. Every key now shows a symbol. Capital and lowercase letters give different symbols, so check the Wingdings alphabet if you want a particular picture.
4. When you are done, pick your usual font again to go back to normal letters.

To add a single symbol, go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols, choose Wingdings in the Font list above the symbols, double-click the one you want and select Close. You can also hold Alt and type a four-digit code on the number pad with Num Lock on, while the font is set to Wingdings. Microsoft describes both methods in Insert a symbol in Word and Insert ASCII or Unicode character codes.

Wingdings comes with Windows. Microsoft's Wingdings page lists it in every version since Windows 3.1, and it is on the Windows 11 font list.

Wingdings in Word for Mac

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. On the Format menu, choose Font, then open the Font tab.
3. Pick Wingdings and click OK. Do not click Default unless you want every new document to start in Wingdings.
4. Type as usual, and switch back to your normal font the same way.

For one symbol at a time, Microsoft's Mac instructions use Insert > Advanced Symbol > Symbols. The Format menu path comes from Microsoft's page on changing default settings in Word for Mac.

You probably have the font already. Apple's font list for macOS Sequoia includes Wingdings, Wingdings 2, Wingdings 3 and Webdings among its installed or downloadable fonts. If a font looks dimmed in Font Book, it has not been downloaded yet, and you can download it there.

Google Docs: no Wingdings font

Google Docs does not offer Wingdings. Its font menu comes with a set selection, and the More fonts option adds fonts from the Google Fonts library. Wingdings belongs to Microsoft and is not part of that library. There are two ways around this.

Paste the symbols. Open the Wingdings translator, type your text, press Copy and paste into your document. Docs treats the result as ordinary text, so it stays in symbols.

Insert them one by one. Google's help page on special characters explains the built-in picker:

1. Click Insert > Symbols > Special characters.
2. Pick a category, type the character's Unicode value, or draw the shape in the box on the right.
3. Click a character to add it.

Typing the Unicode value is the fastest route if you know it. For whole words, pasting from the translator is quicker.

Why Wingdings turns back into letters

This is the most common surprise. Say you type "Hi" in Word with the Wingdings font. On your screen it shows a pointing hand and the Pisces sign. Inside the file, though, it is still the letters H and i, plus a note that says "use Wingdings".

Copy that into a chat app, an email or a social post, and the note gets left behind. The app shows the text in its own font, so the reader sees "Hi". The same happens when someone opens your document on a device that lacks the font.

Unicode symbols avoid this. Since Unicode 7.0 in 2014, the Wingdings pictures have had their own character codes. "Hi" from the translator is 🖗︎♓︎, two real symbols that stay symbols wherever you paste them. How they look still depends on the fonts of the device showing them.

Wingdings on a phone

Chat apps on phones show your text in their own font, so switching to Wingdings is not an option there. The copy and paste method works instead.

1. Open the Wingdings translator in your phone's browser.
2. Type your message in the English box.
3. Press Copy and paste the symbols into a message, a note or a post.

To read a message someone sent you, switch the translator's direction with the arrows and paste the symbols in. Keep Plain symbols turned on so the symbols copy in black and white where the app allows it. Four capital letters, C, D, K and M, are color emoji by default, so most phones show them in color anyway. If the look must not change, use Save as PNG and send the picture.

Common problems

• Boxes or blank spaces instead of symbols. The device showing the text has no font with that symbol. Try another app, or send an image.
• The wrong symbols. Check your capital letters, since A and a are different pictures. Make sure the font is Wingdings and not Wingdings 2 or Webdings, which use other symbols. Those have their own tools, the Wingdings 2 translator and the Webdings translator.
• Alt codes do nothing. Use the number pad with Num Lock on, not the number row above the letters, and type all four digits.
• Wingdings 2 or 3 is missing on Windows. Microsoft's Windows 11 font list includes Wingdings and Webdings but not the numbered fonts. Microsoft lists them as Office cloud fonts for Microsoft 365 subscribers.
• Looking for a download. This site does not offer the Wingdings font, and you do not need it for the copy and paste method.