Emojis are cool little icons that can quickly give you a hand to express emotions and situations in life when writing a message. They’ve been available on your phone for years, and while Windows 10 also includes support for emoji, the integration wasn’t convenient, as it required to use the touch keyboard to access them.
However, starting with the Fall Creators Update, Windows 10 introduces native support for emoji, which simply means that you can now use them with your hardware keyboard.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to use emojis on Windows 10 with your hardware keyboard and mouse.
How to use emoji on Windows 10
If you have a device without a touch keyboard, it’s now super simple to input emojis when writing a message on an email application, on Microsoft Edge, an Office app, etc.
How to open emoji panel
To open up the emoji panel on Windows 10, you only need to use the Windows key + “.” (or Windows key + “;”) keyboard shortcut in the message you’re writing.
How to navigate emojis
Once open the emoji panel, you can use the following keys to navigate:
- Arrow keys: Navigate among emoji
- Tab / Shift + Tab: Switch emoji category
- Enter: Select an emoji
- Esc: Close the panel
How to search emojis
The emoji panel also includes an easy way to search and find the emoji you want.
To find an emoji, open the panel, click the Search button and type your search. Alternatively, you can open the panel and continue writing to search.
Once you see the emoji you like, either press Enter or click the emoji with the mouse.
How to change emoji skin tone
The Windows 10’s emoji panel also includes support to change skin tone for people emojis.
To change the skin tone for a particular emoji, simply go to the people emoji category, and click the skin tone button in the top-right corner. Select the skin tone, and then click the emoji you want.
If you can’t open the new emoji panel, it’s probably because you’re not running the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The new panel is available on Windows 10 build 16215 and later.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He's also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ & Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, and LinkedIn.