How to type Pi Symbol in Word/Excel (On Keyboard)

This post has several methods you can use to insert or type the Pi symbol anywhere like MS Word or Excel, using some keyboard shortcuts for both Windows and Mac.

Without any further ado, let’s get started.

Quick Help to Type the Pi symbol

To type the Pi (π) Symbol anywhere (like in Word or Excel), press Option + Z shortcut for Mac. If you are on Windows, simply press down the Alt key and type 227 using the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard. For Microsoft Word, just type 03C0 and then press Alt + X to get the symbol.

The table below is a Gem in The Rough. It contains everything about the Pi symbol. You can even copy and paste it into your document. It also has the Alt code as well as the keyboard shortcut.

Name	Pi
Symbol	π
Alt Code	227
Shortcut for Windows	Alt+227
Shortcut for mac	Option + p
Shortcut on Word	03C0, Alt+X

To use the Pi symbol shortcut, Press down the Alt key and type the Pi symbol alt code (i.e. 227). Alternatively, for MS Word users, type the Alt-X code (03C0) and then press Alt + X to convert the code into a Pi. And if you are on Mac, simply press Option + p on your keyboard.

With the above quick quide, you can easily type the Pi symbol anywhere in your PC like in your Wor or Excel document.

However, if you are not satisfied with this quick help, below is a detailed guide on how to insert the Pi symbol or any other symbol in Word.

What is a Pi?

The number π is a mathematical constant which is approximately equal to 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter “π” since the mid-18th century, though it is also sometimes spelled out as “pi”. It is also called Archimedes’ constant. (Source: Wikipidia.Com)

There are many dual-purpose keys on the keyboard containing special characters or symbols which you can only type by pressing the Shift Key.

However, the special characters or symbols are so many that they cannot all be printed on the keyboard. The Pi symbol (π) is one of them.

Since this symbol is not on the keyboard, typing becomes cumbersome for the typist if he or she needs to insert it regularly into his work.

But it doesn’t have to be that difficult. Especially now that you found this page.

How to Insert Pi symbol in Word/Excel

In this tutorial, I have shown you all the easy ways to insert the Pi symbol (π) into Word.

NOTE: I demonstrated all the methods using the lowercase Pi symbol (π). However, the same methods can be used to insert any other symbol in MS Word.

Below are the various methods you can use to insert the Pi symbol into Word.

Insert Pi symbol using the Alt code (shortcut)

Every symbol in Word has a shortcode which you can use to insert the symbol into your document. This code is popularly known as Alt code.

The Ohm (Ω) Symbol Alt Code is 227.

Below are the steps to type the pi sign 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 the code (227) using the numeric keypad.
• After typing the Alt code, release the [Alt] key you pressed.

As soon as you release the Alt Key, the Ohm (Ω) symbol should appear in your document.

Insert the Pi symbol using the Alt-X code (MS Word Only)

The Alt-X code for the Pi symbol is 03C0.

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

• Place the insertion pointer at where you want to insert the symbol.
• Type the Alt-X code (03C0)
• Then press Alt+X to convert the code into a Pi symbol.

It is as simple as that.

As soon as you press Alt+X after typing the code, Word will convert the Alt code into a Pi symbol.

Copy and paste the Pi symbol

Inserting the Pi symbol into your document can be a simple copy and paste.

If you already have the symbol in your document, you can just copy it and paste again. Or you can copy it from elsewhere like a webpage.

Below is the Pi symbol if you want to copy and paste it into your work:

π

Using Insert Symbol Dialog

This approach isn’t as straight forward as the previous methods. But it’s fairly easy.

And once you insert the symbol into your document, you can always copy and paste it again when you need it.

Below are the steps to insert a Pi symbol in Word using the insert symbol dialog.

• Go to Insert →Symbols→ More Symbols…

These few clicks will pop-up the Symbol dialog box.

Now is the time to find the symbol you want to insert.

• Locate the Symbol

To easily find the Pi symbol in the dialog box, look at the bottom right area of the Symbol dialog box and select Unicode (hex) in the from: drop-down. Then look again at the top right area of the dialog and select Greek and Coptic in the Subset: drop-down.

This will filter out all the Greek symbols including the Pi symbol you want to insert.

• Select the symbol, and then click Insert.

Alternatively, you can just double-click on the symbol to insert it into your document.

• After inserting, close the Symbol dialog box.

This is how you may insert a Pi symbol into Word using the insert symbol dialog.

Using Word AutoCorrect to type Pi symbol

Another way to obtain the Pi symbol is to use AutoCorrect.

AutoCorrect is a facility designed for correcting spelling mistakes like thsi to this.

Using this feature, you can assign a code to the Pi symbol (such as PISYM).

This way, whenever you type the text PISYM, Word will think that you actually wanted to type π and will convert it into the Pi symbol automatically.

What makes this approach interesting is that you can assign any code you want to the symbol and whenever you type the code, it gets converted to Pi symbol.

Without further ado, below are the steps to type Pi symbol in Word using AutoCorrect.

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

The Symbol dialog appears.

• Locate the Pi symbol, then click to select it.
• Click on the AutoCorrect… button to display the AutoCorrect dialog.

In the AutoCorrect dialog box, enter the following:

• Replace: PISYM (or any code you want to assign to the symbol)
• With: π

• Click Add, then click OK.

Word will automatically insert the Pi symbol into your document whenever you type PISYM.

Below are a few things to note though when you are using the AutoCorrect Method to insert the Pi sign.

• AutoCorrect is case sensitive. Meaning if you type pisym (in lowercase), Word will not convert it into the Pi symbol unless you type PISYM (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 Pi symbol. For example, XPISYM will not get converted, but X PISYM    will get converted to X π.