How to Open the Emoji Keyboard on Windows (Quick Shortcut)

How to Open the Emoji Keyboard on Windows

by Heinz Tschabitscher | Aug 24, 2026 | Windows Tips and Resources

Struggling to find the promised smiley keyboard for Windows? Looking for handy shortcuts to adding emoji and special symbols anywhere? Find out here how to open and use the built-in emoji keyboard that comes free with Windows 11 and Windows 10 ⤓ to enter emojis with ease.

How to Open the Emoji Keyboard on Windows

⚡ Quick Fix

Press Windows . (period), start typing to search and press Enter or click an emoji to insert it.

Handy Emoji Search and Keyboard

Time needed: 1 minute

To bring up the free and built-in emoji keyboard on Windows 11 and Windows 10 and enter special characters into any text field (emails, say, text or a browser window):

  1. Position the text cursor where you want to insert the emoji character.

    Works anywhere: This works just about everywhere in Windows where you can enter text.

  2. Press Windows . (period) to open the Windows emoji panel.

  3. Start typing to search for an emoji character.

    Keyboard navigation: Use the arrow keys (← → ↑ ↓) to navigate results in the emoji pane.
    Search naturally: Type words such as heart, arrow or celebration to find matching emoji.
    Tap to insert: You can also just click or tap any emoji, of course, to insert it.

  4. Press Enter to insert the emoji currently in focus.

    More emoji: Continue typing, of course, to search for more emoji.
    Other emoji: Click the Kaomoji tab to find kaomoji (as well as classic smileys made of ASCII characters) and Symbols to insert special characters.
    What’s behind the character: You can find the Unicode code points behind emoji and other characters using a web tool.
    The Windows 11 emoji panel

  5. Press Esc to close the Windows emoji keyboard.

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Open the Full-Sized Emoji Keyboard

Windows 11

To get a larger emoji keyboard on Windows 11:

  1. Bring up the Windows on-screen keyboard.
  2. Tap or click the emoji button.
    Here’s where: The button is on the keyboard’s top left.
    Keyboard shortcut: You can also press or click Windows . (period).
  3. Select Emoji to expand the emojis’ section.
  4. Hide the emoji keyboard using, again, the emoji button or tapping the keyboard section.

Using Linux? How to Insert Emoji and Special Characters on Linux

Windows 10

To open a full-sized emoji keyboard on Windows 10:

  1. Open the Windows touch keyboard.
  2. Now click or tap the Emojis button in the on-screen keyboard that has appeared; the button sports a smiling emoticon (🙂).
    Click the Emoji button
  3. Find the desired emoji character using the category buttons at the bottom and the left (⬅️) and right (➡️) buttons on the left.
  4. Click or tap a character to insert it.
    Click the desired emoji character
  5. Close the touch keyboard window.

How to Open the Emoji Keyboard on Windows: FAQ

The Windows touch keyboard does not show; what can I do?

To troubleshoot opening the Windows emoji keyboard:

1. Look for the Touch keyboard button.

  1. Make sure the Touch keyboard button is enabled and visible.
  2. Click the Touch keyboard button in the task bar.

Clicking it yields no result?

2. Try restarting the Windows TabletInputService service:

  1. Click on the Windows task bar with the right mouse button.
  2. Select Task Manager from the menu that has appeared.
    Tablet mode: In Windows 10 tablet mode, search for "task manager" in the Start menu.
  3. Click More details if you see it in the Task Manager window.
  4. Go to the Services tab.
  5. Click on the TabletInputService entry (with Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service in the Description column) with the right mouse button.
  6. Select Restart or Start from the menu.
  7. Click the Touch keyboard button. (You may have to click twice.)

Do you get an error message when trying to start the service, or the Touch keyboard still does not appear?

3. Make sure TabletInputService is enabled and running in Windows:

  1. Click Open Services on the Task Manager’s Services tab.
  2. Now click on the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service entry in the Services window with the right mouse button.
  3. Select Properties from the menu.
  4. Make sure Manual is selected under Startup type:.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Now click the Touch keyboard button again. (Yet again, you may have to click twice.)

(Tested with Windows 11 Version 22H2–25H2 and Windows 10 Version 21H2; first published August 2017, last updated August 2026)

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