How to type Down Arrow Symbol Text on Keyboard (Windows & Mac)

This is a very thorough guide with several methods you can use to insert or type the Down Arrow Symbol text or Downward Arrow Sign (↓) anywhere on your PC keyboard, like in Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint or somewhere in your browser like Google Docs.

Whether you are using Windows or Mac keyboard, you’ll learn all the easy methods to get this symbol including the Down Arrow Alt code and shortcut option.

Without any wasting much time, let’s get to work.

Quick Guide for typing the Down Arrow symbol (↓)

To type the Down Arrow Symbol anywhere on your PC or Laptop keyboard (like in Microsoft Word or Excel), simply press down the Alt key and type 25 using the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard.

For Mac users, to get the downward arrow symbol, first press Control + Command + Spacebar to bring up the Character viewer. Using the search bar near the top of the Character Viewer, search for ‘arrows’ and double click on the down arrow sign to insert it into your work.

The table below contains everything you need to know to be able to type this symbol on both Windows and Mac.

Name of Symbol	Down Arrow sign
Symbol Text	↓
Symbol Alt Code	25
Shortcut for Windows	Alt + 25

Whether you are using Windows or Mac, the above information is enough for you to get the Down Arrow sign into your Word/Excel document.

However, if you are not satisfied with this quick help, keep reading below as I will explain in detail, how to get the Down Arrow symbol or any other symbol anywhere on your Mac or Windows PC like in MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint.

As you may already know, there are several dual-purpose keys on the keyboard for both Windows and Mac. That is to say that there are symbols readily available as second keys on the keyboard. Just by pressing two or more keys simultaneously, you can easily insert such symbols into your work. For instance, pressing Shift + 1 keys give you the Exclamation (!) mark.

However, other symbols aren’t printed on the keyboard as second keys. This makes it difficult to type. One of these symbols is the Down Arrow symbol text(↓).

Typing becomes very difficult for you if you need to add some of these symbols regularly into your work.

But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Especially now that you are reading this step-by-step guide.

How to Insert Down Arrow symbol anywhere (Like in Word/Excel)

In the following sections, I will show you all the easy ways to type or insert this symbol (↓) anywhere on your Windows or Mac PC (such as Word or Excel or PowerPoint).

In a couple of minutes, I’ll explain several methods you can use to get this (↓) and any other symbol as and when the need arises.

Without any further ado, below are the methods explained into details.

Method 1: Using Shortcuts (For Windows)

The Down Arrow Symbol Shortcut is Alt+25.

Windows has several shortcuts, some of which works only in Microsoft Word.

However, there’s a Windows shortcut for the Down Arrow Sign that works across all applications. It is the alt code shortcut which is Alt+25 (will be discussed in the next section).

The next section explains more about the Alt Code shortcut for the down arrow.

Method 2: Down Arrow Symbol Alt Code (Windows)

The Down Arrow (↓) Symbol Alt Code is 25.

Every symbol in Word has a unique code that you can use to insert the symbol into your document. This code is well known as “Alt code”.

Below are the steps to type this symbol on your keyboard (using the Alt code provided above:

• Press the num lock key to enable the numeric keypad. Use Fn key + NumLk keys to turn on Num Lock on laptops without the numeric keypad.
• Press and hold the Alt key and type 25 using the numeric keypad.
• After typing the Alt code (i.e. 25), release the [Alt] key you pressed down.

As soon as you release the Alt Key, the Down Arrow (↓) symbol should appear in your document.

Method 3: Down Arrow Symbol on Mac

Using the Character viewer on Mac, below are the steps to insert this down arrow symbol text on Mac:

• Click to place the insertion pointer where you want to add the symbol.
• Press Control + Command + Spacebar on your keyboard. This brings up the Character viewer, which looks like the picture below:

• Using the search bar at the top of the Character Viewer, search for “arrows”. Alternatively, click on the expand icon in the top right corner that looks like the picture below

After you click on this icon, the expanded view of the Character Viewer will look like the screenshot below.

• You should now see “Arrows” in the left-hand menu, just under the “Emoji” group. Browse through these arrows and double-click on the downward arrow or any other arrow you wish to insert.

This is how you may easily insert the downward arrow sign on Mac.

Method 4: Copy and paste the Arrow symbol text

Use the button below to copy and paste the Down Arrow symbol for your work.

My favorite method for inserting symbols I can’t easily type is copy and paste.

With this method, all you need to do is google the symbol you need to type, then copy it from one of the search results provided. Once you get the symbol into your document, you can always recopy and paste it as and when the need arises.

Use the button above to get this symbol on your clipboard.

There is another way to copy this and any other symbol on Windows. It involved using the Windows Character Map.

Obey the steps below to copy and paste any symbol using the character map.

• Search for the Character map app by clicking on the Start button.
• The Character map app will show up in the search results. Click on it to launch.

• After the Character Map window opens up, click to check the Advance View checkbox to expand the window for more advanced options.

• On the Advanced View section, type Arrow or Downward Arrow in the search box.
• The symbol you searched for (i.e. the Downward Arrow) will now appear on the Character map. Double click on it to select it. You’ll see that the symbol appears in the Characters to copy text box. This allows you to select and copy several symbols at the same time.

• After selecting the symbol, you wish to copy, click on the Copy button.
• Switch over to wherever you need the symbol, whether in MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and press Ctrl + V to paste.

This is how you may copy and paste the Down Arrow sign using the Character Map on Windows.

Method 5: Using Insert Symbol Dialog

This approach isn’t as straight forward as the shortcut methods. But it’s fairly simple.

And once you get the symbol into your document, you can always copy and paste it again as and when you need it in your work.

This method works on both Windows and Mac.

Below are the steps to insert the Down Arrow Sign in Word using the insert symbol dialog.

• Go to the Insert tab.

• On the Insert tab, click the Symbol button and choose More Symbols…

These few clicks will bring up the Symbol dialog box.

• Under the Symbols tab, in the Font drop-down list, type in and select Wingdings. This should filter out all the Windings symbol texts including the downward arrow symbol.
• Select the symbol, and then click on the Insert button.

• Alternatively, double-clicking on the symbol will also insert the symbol into your document.
• Click the Close button.

This is how you may insert a Down Arrow symbol text in Word using the insert symbol dialog.

Method 6: Word’s AutoCorrect for the ↓ Arrow Symbol Text

You can also type the Down Arrow Symbol text using the AutoCorrect feature in Word.

It is a feature in MS Word designed for correcting spelling mistakes like thsi to this.

Using this AutoCorrect Feature, you can assign a short code to the Down Arrow symbol (such as  DWNARR).

This way, whenever you type the text DWNARR, Word will think that you actually wanted to type ↓ and will convert it into the Down Arrow symbol for you automatically.

See illustration below:

What makes this method interesting is that you can assign your own custom shortcut or short code to the symbol and Word will automatically insert the symbol whenever you type the code.

Without further ado, below are the steps you can use to type Down Arrow symbol in Word using AutoCorrect.

• Go to the Insert tab.

• On the Insert tab, go to Symbol and then click More Symbols… The Symbol windows will appear.

• Locate the Down Arrow symbol, then click to select it.
• Click on the AutoCorrect… button to display the AutoCorrect window.

• In the AutoCorrect dialog box, enter the following:

Replace: DWNARR

With: ↓

• Click Add, and then then hit the OK button.

Now, word will automatically insert the Down Arrow symbol into your document whenever you type DWNARR.

However, below are some few things to note when you are using the AutoCorrect Method to insert the Down Arrow sign.

• AutoCorrect is case sensitive. Meaning if you type dwnarr (in lowercase), Word will not convert it into the Down Arrow sign unless you type DWNARR (in uppercase).
• If there is any text before or after the AutoCorrect text, Word will consider the AutoCorrect text as part of the text and hence will not convert it to the Down Arrow symbol. For example, ManDWNARR will not get converted, but Man DWNARR will get converted to Man ↓.

Conclusion

As you can see, these are the various ways you may insert or type the Down Arrow symbol text in Word/Excel with or without using the keyboard.

My favorite method is using the copy and paste method followed by the Down Arrow symbol shortcut in Word for both Windows and Mac. The Alt Code method also comes simple.

For any comments or questions about this Down Arrow sign guide, please let me know in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading.