Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
The em dash(—)is a supremely utilitarian ( and fashionable ) slice of punctuation used in penning and editing , often in place of a comma butterfly , El Salvadoran colon , or parenthesis . While you might need to utilize it to make your grammar look fancy , the symbolization on a computer can be a fiddling challenging to get at if you do n’t bang how , especially onWindows 11 .
Fortunately , there are several method available to insert the em dash punctuation mark into your text . Check out the following tips to learn how to become more familiar with the em flair on your reckoner .
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Keyboard
The em dashkeyboard shortcutis one of the easier methods to get at the punctuation mark . Though it might take a little bit of getting used to , once you overcome it , you ’ll be an em dash typewrite master . Turn on telephone number Lock by pressing theNumLock keyon the upper turn row of your keyboard . Then adjudge theAlt keyand type the sequence0151on the numeric keypad of your keyboard . relinquish the Alt headstone and the em dash will appear .
If your keyboard does n’t have a designated numerical computer keyboard , which is the font on many of thebest laptops , you’re able to utilize the alternating numeric computer keyboard located on the U , I , O , J , K , L , and M keys on your keyboard . If you use the upper wrangle numbers on your keyboard , this method will not work . So , if you ’re having fuss , this might be the mistake you ’re making .
Once you ’re land up inserting the em dah , do n’t forget to turn off the Number Lock by pressing the NumLock key again , or else the above - mentioned keys will continue to come out as numbers when you type .
Microsoft Word
you’re able to use the em bolt keyboard shortcut in any word central processing unit or text box you desire ; however , some methods are specific toMicrosoft Word . The easiest allows you to enter routine Lock and then holdCtrl + Altand thenumeric keypad minus signto insert the em elan .
Alternatively , you could get the em dash in Microsoft ’s symbolization setting . recover the insert setting in the upper - left corner and then the Z ( Ω ) symbol in the upper right . choose that symbolisation and then more symbols . you may scroll down until you find the em bolt , or you may choose special character , of which the em dah should be the first . SelectEnterand then close up the options corner . The em dah will be among your text .
Finally , you’re able to insert an em sprint with the motorcar format function in Microsoft Word . This let you to typecast an em dash and continue typecast your text with little to no pause . plainly typecast a Holy Writ , type two hyphens unspaced ( the hyphen samara is locate between the 0 and the + keys on the upper turn row of your keyboard ) , then type another word . After that , hit the spacebar or infix and Microsoft Word will format the sequence into textual matter with an em flair .
Start Menu
The Microsoft Start Menu shortcut is also one that can be used across word processors or text boxes . It ’s an interesting function that brings up the emoji menu in Windows OS . Simply press the Windows Start Menu icon on the taskbar and the period cay ( . ) .
Depending on your organisation interlingual rendition , you might see an Z symbol ( Windows 10 ) or several varying symbols ( Windows 11 ) in between the smiley human face and the paste icon . pick out the image , which will bring you to a table of symbols . Scroll down to find the em dash inGeneral Punctuation , select it to insert in your computer program , and close down the setting .
Search engine
After exploring all of the other em dash typewriting method , this one might seem a bit windy . Even so , you could search the terminus em dash in your search railway locomotive of alternative , copy the symbol , and paste it into your word central processor or text box seat .
Often , the primary search result will be a definition of em dash , which include the right symbol in digression . This is the cause in theMicrosoft Edge web web browser . Typically , an em panache is not used often in a text , but if you demand it , you cancopy and pasteit from the original punctuation mark you pasted.-
