Want to enrich your emails with emoticons? Do like the marketers do and find out here how to find, use, and insert emoji in Gmail (in more places than the email body or subject).
First, Color Games on a Black and White Screen
When the aptly named Vectrex gaming console hit the market in November 1982, the still viable device had silky vector graphics, characteristic beeping sound, a black and white screen, and a host of exciting games in color.
Color on a black and white screen? Yes, for each game came with a “color overlay”—which turned the monitor into an appropriately colorful spectrum.
With Gmail, you need no overlays to add colors—or colorful graphics:
How to Insert Emoji in Gmail (Incl. Shortcuts)
Looking for special characters? How to Add Symbols and Special Characters in Gmail
In a Desktop Browser
Time needed: 1 minute
To add emoji in an email using Gmail in a desktop browser:
- Put the cursor where you want to insert the emoji in an email you are composing in Gmail.
Emoji elsewhere: You can also insert emoji elsewhere—in the subject, for instance, or your Gmail email name; see below.
- Click the Insert Emoji button in the email’s bottom toolbar.
Gmail keyboard shortcut: You can also press Ctrl Shift 2 (Windows, Linux) or Command Shift 2 (Mac) to open the emoji panel.
- Now click any emoji to insert it.
Search: You can find emoji by name using the Search tab.
Categories: Emoticons are also organized in categories (faces, nature, transportation…)
Gmail keyboard shortcuts: Use Tab to circle through categories and search, and the arrow keys to highlight individual emoji, then Space to input the emoji.
Looking for the perfect emoji character? The best tools to search for emojis reviewed
Insert Emoji in Subject, Recipient Name, etc.
To enter emoticons in fields other than the email text using Gmail in a desktop browser—go the route of the email text:
- Enter the desired emoji in the email body of a new message. (See above.)
- Highlight the text and emoji you want to insert into the email subject, sender name, etc.
- Press Ctrl C (Windows and Linux) or Command C (Mac) to copy the emoji character.
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the emoji.
- Press Ctrl V (Windows, Linux) or Command V (Mac) to paste.
In the Gmail App for iPhone
To use emoji in the Gmail app for iOS:
- Tap the emoji button on the iOS keyboard.
No emoji icon: Add the iPhone emoji keyboard first. - Find and insert the desired emoji character.
In the Gmail App for Android
To add an emoji while you write an email in the Gmail app for Android (or Gmail Go):
- Tap the emoji button on Gboard.
No emoji button: Tap and hold the , key next to the Space bar to reveal the emoji key. - Now switch to the emoji tab.
- Tap any character to insert it in your Gmail email.
How to Insert Emoji in Gmail: FAQ
Where can I use emoji?
You can use emoji characters just about anywhere you can type text in Gmail. This includes
- the text of emails,
- subject lines,
- your signature,
- the recipient’s name and
- your sender name,
but not
When I send to Gmail, can emojis be problematic?
Yes.
Note that Gmail will reject emails that have emoji in the sender name (in the From: field).
What will Gmail emojis look like in plain text?
Emoji characters are included in the plain text version of an email as well, encoded using Base64 and in the UTF‑8 character set.
In email programs that support Unicode and UTF‑8, the emojis will show fine.
In email programs and services that do not support Unicode, they will appear as gibberish (even when the text happens to display fine because of codepage overlap).
Can I add to the list of emoji provided in Gmail?
While you cannot add to the list of emoticons in the Gmail emoji picker, you can insert any Unicode emoji.
To insert a custom emoji in Gmail:
(How to insert emojis in Gmail tested in a desktop browser as well as the Gmail apps for iPhone and Android; updated December 2023)