How to Add a Degree Symbol in Excel (Fast)

A degree symbol is a small circle on the top right of a character. It denotes the temperature units like Celsius and Fahrenheit 🌡

Have you ever wondered how to add a degree symbol in Excel? Look around your keyboard, and you will find it there on your key.

It makes it clear that you will ultimately need a hack or so to add a degree symbol to your sheets in Excel. In this guide, I will walk you through various methods to add a degree symbol in Excel (from the easiest to the fastest method) 🚴‍♀️

Grab your free practice workbook for this guide now and read along with me till the end to learn all these methods.

Table of Contents

Add a Degree Symbol in Excel from the Insert Symbol Dialog box

Excel offers a long list of symbols that you can insert into your sheet using the Insert Symbol tool of Excel 🔣

To insert the degree symbol in Microsoft Excel:

Step 1) Activate the cell where you want the degree symbol inserted by double-clicking on it.

Step 2) Take your cursor to the point where you want the symbol inserted.

Step 3) Go to the Insert tab > Symbols group > Symbol.

The Symbols dialog box will open like below.

Step 4) Within it, select the font as Times New Roman.

Step 5) Scroll down the list of symbols to find a degree symbol.

Step 6) Select it and press Insert.

The degree symbol will be inserted in your cursor’s location.

Easy, right? 😄

Copy / Paste the Degree Symbol

This is more of a smart workaround for adding the degree symbol to your Excel sheet.

If you’re running late or are just not in the mood to try other methods (that may take a little longer than this one) to add the degree symbol to your Excel sheet, just copy-paste it from somewhere (haha) 🥂

Now if you’re wondering from where?

Right here.

Step 1) Copy it from here.

Step 2) Go to the relevant cell of your Excel spreadsheet where you want it pasted.

Step 3) Paste it by using the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl key + V key.

Easy and quick, as they say ✌

Use the CHAR Function

The CHAR function in Excel is used to achieve special characters.

Each character has a code defined for it, and as you write this code as an argument to the CHAR function, the CHAR function produces it for you.

Step 1) Activate a cell.

Step 2) Write the CHAR function as follows:

There you get it.

However, this degree symbol will have a formula running at its back so, you might not be able to write it next to a text or numeric value unless you concatenate them using formulas/functions.

An easy hack is to copy this cell (containing the CHAR function) and paste it as a value in another cell 💡

Now there’s no formula running behind this, and you can easily use it with any other text or numeric string.

Alt key Shortcut

If you’re more of a keyboard person (like me) and do not want to move your hands around to access the cursor, I still have a hack for you 🥽

Step 1) Go to the cell and the relevant location within the cell where you want the degree symbol inserted.

Step 2) Make sure the cell is activated. If not, press the F2 key to activate it first.

Step 3) From your keyboard, press the Alt key (keep it pressed), and now press down the 0, 1, 7, and 6 keys.

Alt key + 0176

For MAC users this is the Option + Shift + 8.

Pro Tip!

If you do not have a numeric keypad (with the 0-9 numbers appearing separately on the right of your keyboard), this alt code won’t work for you.

For that, you’ll have to switch on the Num Lock, and then try this keyboard shortcut.

Autocorrect Options in Excel

If you are someone from the weather forecast department for your region (just kidding) or otherwise someone who gets to work with the degree symbol quite often, I have got a smart trick for you 🤏

You can set up a code of your own that is replaced with a degree sign every time you type it in Excel. We will embed that code into the AutoCorrect settings of Excel telling it to replace that word with a degree symbol.

See here how.

Step 1) Copy the degree sign from below.

Step 2) Go to the File tab > Options.

Step 3) From the Options dialog box, select Proofing from the categories on the left.

Step 4) Go to AutoCorrect Options.

Step 5) Add the code/word you’ve selected in the “Replace” box and paste the degree symbol in the “With” box.

I am setting it as “DEG” for now 🙋‍♀️

Pro Tip!

Be careful when you set this code up. It should be a word that has a remote to no chance of being used in your sheet otherwise.

As soon as type the code “DEG” in Excel, it will be replaced with a degree symbol. So if you sometimes genuinely want the word DEG in your sheet rather than the degree symbol, Excel would still replace it with a degree symbol because that’s the instruction fed to it.

Step 6) Click on the Add button to add this to the list of Auto Corrections.

Step 7) Press okay.

Now try writing the word DEG in any cell of your sheet.

As soon as you write this word and add a space character or press Enter, it will be replaced by a degree symbol.

However, remember that this word is case-sensitive so, writing “deg” won’t yield these results.

Similarly, combining this word with any other string will also help it. Like writing 48DEG will come up this way.

Add a space character between both making it 48 DEG to get the word DEG replaced by the degree symbol.

Interesting!

Pro Tip!

Once you have saved this setting, it will apply to all sheets and all Excel books (old or new), which makes your job much easier if you get to use the degree symbol regularly.

However, be informed that this AutoCorrect option has been added for all your Microsoft office Apps (including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and all others).

Any Microsoft app where you write the word DEG now will replace it with a degree symbol.

Set up a Custom Format

If you want to add the degree symbol to a range of cells (tens or hundreds of cells), none of the above methods will effectively help you.

For example, if I have some temperatures stated here in Excel 🌡

Using any of the methods explained above, if I try adding the degree symbol to all these temperatures, it will take me a great deal of time to do so since I will have to activate each cell and then manually add a degree symbol to it.

For such a situation, a faster method is to embed the degree symbol in a custom format in Excel.

Intrigued to know how to do that? Follow me here.

Step 1) Copy the degree sign from below.

Step 2) Select the cells where you want to add the degree symbol.

Step 3) Go to the Home tab > Numbers Group > Number formats > More Number formats.

Step 4) Within the Number formats, select Custom Number formatting from the pane on the left.

Step 5) Type the custom format as below by pasting the degree sign where needed.

You’ll see how the numbers would appear in the Sample box above 👀

Pro tip

This custom format takes three types of data formats, each of which is separated by a semi-colon.

• Positive number format (denoted by the first 0.00°). Excel will present positive temperatures with two decimal places and a degree sign (you can set the decimal places to more or less)
• Negative number format (denoted by the second -0.00°). Excel will format negative temperatures with a preceding minus sign and two decimal places with a degree sign.
• Zero values format (denoted by the third 0°). Excel will format zero values as it is with a degree sign next to them and no decimal places.

You can change the format for any of these data types here. For example, if you add a “C” (for Celsius) next to the degree sign in each of these number formats like below

00°C; -0.00°C; 0.00°C

Excel will format all numbers to include a degree sign and a C next to them (check out the Sample).

Step 6) Press okay.

All the selected cells will be formatted with a degree sign in one go.

How fast and convenient is that? 🚀

Conclusion

This guide covers six top-notch methods to add a degree symbol in MS Excel. From the fastest to the easiest to the most sustainable method – choose what fits you the best.

For more exciting Excel tutorials, check out the following blogs by Spreadsheeto.

• How to Square Root in Excel: Type Symbol and Calculate (2024)
• How to Insert Special Characters and Symbols in Excel (2024)
• How to Insert A Dollar Sign ($) In An Excel Formula