How to Type Em Dash — and En Dash – on Windows: Shortcuts and Tricks

Looking to make intermissions look right typographically or give a range of numbers with a dash that is just the right size — but struggling to find the appropriate dashes on your keyboard? Find out here how (and when) to effortlessly type em dash ( — ) and en dash (–) on Windows ⤓.

How to Type Em Dash (—) and En Dash (–) on Windows 10/11

Using the Em Dash and En Dash Alt Codes

Using the Windows Touch On-Screen Keyboard

To input em dash or en dash characters swiftly using the Windows on-screen (touch) keyboard:

1. Position the text input cursor where you want to insert the dash.
2. Bring up the Windows touch keyboard.
3. Click or tap and hold the - (dash) key on the touch keyboard.
4. Move the cursor until the em dash — or en dash – key is highlighted.
5. Release the mouse cursor or remove your finger to insert the highlighted character.
   

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Using Copy and Paste to Input Em Dash and En Dash

Instead of typing Alt-codes or juggling on-screen utilities, you can also paste the dash characters, of course.

Em dash  —	copy —
En dash –	copy –

Locating Em Dash in the Windows Emoji Panel

To use the Windows 11 emoji panel to insert — or –:

1. Put the text cursor where the em dash or en dash is to appear.
2. Open the Windows emoji panel.
   Here’s how: Press Windows . (period), for example, to open the emoji panel.
3. Go to the Symbols tab.
4. Scroll to General punctuation.
5. Click or tap the em dash — or en dash – character to insert it.
   No search: The emoji panel knows no descriptions for its characters, so you cannot search for dash, for example, only locate the characters by appearance.
   

On a Mac? How to Insert Em-Dash ( — ) and En-Dash ( – ) on a Mac
Using Linux? How to Insert En Dash – and Em Dash — on Linux
Tapping on an iPhone? How to Insert En Dash and Em Dash on an iPhone

Using Windows Character Map to Insert Em Dash and En Dash

To input en- and em dash using the Windows Character Map application:

1. Open Character Map.
   Here’s how: Open the Windows Start menu, for example, search for character map, and select Character Map.
2. Click the Search for : field.
   No search: If you do not see Search for :, check Advanced view first.
3. Type em dash or en dash for the respective characters.
4. Now click Search.
5. Highlight the desired character.
6. Click Select.
7. Now click Copy to copy em or en dash to the clipboard for pasting.
   

How to Type Em Dash and En Dash with MS PowerToys Keyboard Manager

To configure MS PowerToys Keyboard Manager to let you insert em dash and en dash with keyboard shortcuts:

1. Enable Keyboard Manager in PowerToys.
   Here’s how: Install and start PowerToys, then turn on Keyboard Manager in the Input & Output section.
2. Open Keyboard Manager key binding editor.
   Here’s how: Open PowerToys and click Keyboard Manager under Quick access.
   PowerToys keyboard shortcut: You can also press Windows Shift Q for the Keyboard Manager editor.
3. Click Add new remapping.
4. Select Key or shortcut under Trigger.
5. Click Press to start recording keys.
6. Press the key combination you want to use for inserting em dash or en dash.
   Example: You can use Alt - (hyphen) for em dash and Ctrl Alt - for en dash, for instance.
7. Choose Insert text under Action.
8. Paste or insert the em dash or en dash character under Text to type.
9. Click Save.

How to Insert Em Dash and En Dash Using AutoHotkey

To set up a shortcut that inserts em dash or en dash on Windows using AutoHotkey:

• Use the following snippet in a AutoHotkey script which is running in the background:
  !-::Send "—"
^!::Send "–"

This lets you use Alt - to insert em dash — and Ctrl Alt to insert en dash –. A full sample script could look like this:

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0
#SingleInstance force

!-::Send "—"
^!-::Send "–"

How to Input — and – Using Windows Notepad

To use the Unicode codepoint to directly input em dash and en dash in Notepad (or WordPad):

1. Position the input cursor where the em or en dash is to appear.
2. Type 2014 for em dash and 2013 for en dash.
3. Press Alt X immediately.

How to Insert Em Dash and En Dash in Word for Windows

Word for Windows includes its own shortcuts as well as text replacement that make inserting dashes easier.

How to Type Em Dash (—) and En Dash (–) on Windows 10/11: FAQ

Can I enter em dash or en dash with the Windows 10 emoji panel?

No.

The emoji panel does not include hyphens on Windows 10.

How do I insert em dash and en dash using LaTeX?

To insert an em dash in LaTeX, you can use \textemdash; for en dash, employ \textendash, for example.

(Tested with Windows 10 Version 22H2 and Windows 11 Version 23H2–25H2; first published March 2024, last updated June 2026)