Question about the symbols on Suface 2

Question

Hello, I want to get symbols OTHER than pound and euro. It's fine that i don't have them, but i want to find symbols that mostly appear in written emojis, like arrows, shapes, greek letters, and others. my surface 2 doesn't have its screen working well and i want to find a way of pressing some keys and getting this same screen but I can't seem to figure this out. I remember i pressed the letter e but I can't seem to get the combination well.

So please if you figured this out or you know how please help me.

Answer 1

Hello Sarah Henri,

I understand your situation. To point you to the most practical method, could you clarify a couple of things:

• How are you currently operating the Surface 2 — are you using an external keyboard and mouse, or relying on touch input?
• Which types of special characters do you need most — for example, currency symbols, Greek letters, arrows, or mathematical symbols?

This will help determine which input method works best for your setup.

Answer 2

On Surface devices running Windows, there are several ways to type symbols like arrows, shapes, and Greek letters without relying on the screen too much.

1. Use the emoji/symbols panel (keyboard shortcut)
   • Press Windows logo key + . (period) to open the emoji panel.
   • Then use:
     • Tab to move focus between sections (Emoji, GIF, Kaomoji, Symbols, Clipboard history depending on Windows version).
     • Left/Right arrow keys to choose Symbols or Kaomoji.
     • Enter to open the selected section.
     • Arrow keys to move through the symbols and Enter to insert one.
   • On some versions, Tab first lands on “Most recently used”; keep using Tab until the category strip is selected, then use Left/Right to move to Symbols.
2. Use Character Map for more symbols
   • Character Map lets you copy special characters (Greek letters, arrows, shapes, etc.) that are not on the keyboard.
   • Open Character Map (for example via Start → type Character Map).
   • Select a character and copy it, then paste it where needed.
3. Use Alt codes (if the keyboard has a numeric keypad)
   • Hold Alt, type a four‑digit code on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.
   • Example codes from Windows:
     • Alt+0169 → ©
     • Alt+0174 → ®
     • Alt+0150 → – (en dash)
     • Alt+0151 → — (em dash)
   • This works only with the numeric keypad, not the number row.
4. Use Pen & Windows Ink (if touch/pen still works)
   • Press Windows logo key, type Settings, press Enter.
   • Use Tab and arrow keys to navigate to Bluetooth & devices → Pen & Windows Ink (Windows 11) or Devices → Pen & Windows Ink (Windows 10).
   • Enable Write with your fingertip or similar option.
   • Then write symbols or letters in the handwriting panel; Windows converts them to text.

These methods give access to arrows, shapes, Greek letters, and many other symbols without needing a special “E + key” combination.

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References:

• Use a screen reader to explore and navigate different keyboard and text tools in Windows
• Windows keyboard tips and tricks