Inserting an em or en dash using Insert Symbol. You can use the Insert Symbol command to insert. The em dash keyboard shortcut differs depending on if you're using a Mac or PC. On a PC, you can use an Emoji keyboard or type the 'Alt Code,' Alt + 0151. On a Mac, you simply need to use the. Jul 22, 2020 Click Em Dash or En Dash. Below is the Insert Symbol dialog box in Word: 2. Inserting an em or en dash using Ctrl and keyboard shortcuts. To insert an em dash, click where you want to insert the em dash and then press Ctrl + Alt + – (minus sign on the numeric keypad).

After writing about how the n-dash and m-dash are used, I thought I should add something about how to insert the n-dash and m-dash quickly in Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Word can create the n-dash and m-dash automatically while you type.

N-dash (or ‘en dash’)
Automatically created in Word when you type “something – something” (word-space-hyphen-space-word).

M-dash (or ’em dash’)
Automatically created in Word when you type “something–something” (word-hyphen-hyphen-word).

But if you miss an n-dash while you type – or if you want to add one later when editing text – it is not easy to get the dash that you want.

An easy way to insert an n-dash or m-dash in Microsoft Word:

Create easy keyboard shortcuts for the characters.

Word has default shortcut key combinations for special characters, but I find them hard to remember and hard to reach with my fingers. The method below lets you assign new shortcuts that are easy to type (and easy to remember).

How-to:

(These instructions should work fine for old and new versions of Microsoft Word. The only one I haven’t tried is Office 360 – thanks for any comments from Office 360 users!)

1. Go to Insert –> Symbol –> More Symbols
2. Find the m-dash in the character map, or just click on the ‘special characters’ tab and they should be at the top.
3. Choose m-dash then click ‘shortcut key’.
4. In the field titled ‘press new shortcut key’ enter a convenient key combination – I use ‘alt m’ for the m-dash and ‘alt n’ for the n-dash because they are easy to remember and easy to type.
5. Click ‘assign’ (this is IMPORTANT – if you don’t click ‘assign’, the shortcut won’t be created and you’ll need to start again).
6. Click ‘close’.

Repeat the steps for the n-dash (and any other special characters you tend to use).

Now it is easy to type the n-dash or m-dash with a quick keyboard command.

Em Dash Shortcut Outlook

Another method for inserting n-dash and m-dash, already built into Word:

If you have a full keyboard with a number pad (not just numbers at the top), you can click ‘Ctrl – minus’ for the n-dash and ‘Alt – Ctrl – minus’ for the m-dash.

Em Dash Shortcut Dell

En Dash Keyboard Shortcut

Em Dash Shortcut Pc

More about the n-dash and m-dash: