Using Emojis in Outlook: Supported Versions & How to Add Them

With the increasing popularity of messengers, emojis are now widely used to add emotional tint in the exchange of messages. They have even found their place in email communication, both business and personal.

No wonder such a widely used email client, Microsoft Outlook, has been updated to support colorful emojis fully. People who are accustomed to using typed smiley faces have already noticed that they are automatically converted into Outlook emoticons. If you are wondering how to add emojis to Outlook, there is a piece of good news.

They are automatically added to Outlook through the updates of Windows software. Therefore, check if your software has been updated to the most recent version of Windows and begin using emojis in Outlook.

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Which Emoticons for Outlook Are Supported

Unicode 12.0 is a set of standard characters that contains more than a thousand of colorful emojis. Recent versions of Windows 10 support almost all of them. Therefore, Microsoft Outlook emoticons will be unusual if you use one of the latest Windows versions (1903, 1909, and 2004), as well as have MS Outlook 2016, 2019, or Outlook as the part of Office 365 package. Also, Windows 8.1 partially supports colored emojis.

If you are a user of previous versions of Windows or MS Outlook, you can still use emoticons. However, they will be black and white on your screen and colorful on the screen of the recipient if their software is more up-to-date. So, emoji for Outlook 2013 are different from those of the later versions of the email client.

There is also an important exception for emoji in Outlook 2016. The Volume License installations for the 2016 version of Outlook do not support colored emoticons. So, if you have got an Outlook 2016 MSI-based installation, your screen will display black and white counterparts.

How to Insert Emoji in Outlook Emails

The first and simplest way to add emojis in Outlook emails is to type their character version. At the same time, MS Outlook will automatically convert them into colorful or black and white counterparts.

:) smiling face
:( frowning face
;) winking face
:D grinning face
:O astonished face
:P squinting face with tongue
<3 heart

However, a regular user hardly knows more than 5-7 character versions. That is why here are the several possible methods.

1. Method for Users of Windows 10

To insert emojis in Outlook, users of Windows 10 / 11 should open the Emoji Panel with the help of one of the Outlook emoji shortcuts:

• Windows logo key + ;
  or
• Windows logo key + . (period)

One of these combinations will open the panel with emojis. To find the one you want, you can continue typing the character version or simply scroll through the available MS Outlook emoticons on the Windows 10 Panel.

Some users find it more convenient to use the small and free utility called EmoPad. It allows insert Emoji during the text writing. Just open the Emoji Panel and click the emoji you want to use, then select and copy them to the Windows clipboard (Ctrl+C). After that you can paste your emoji set into an email or text editor you use.

2. Regular method to insert an emoji in Outlook

1. Open a new email message.
2. Select “Insert” from the top menu.
3. Click on the “Symbol” option on the far right.
4. Click on “More Symbols”.
5. Select the “Symbols” tab in the window that pops up.
6. In the “Font” dropdown, choose “Segoe UI Emoji”.
7. You can now choose from a wide range of emojis. Double click on the emoji you want to use and it will appear in your email.
8. Click “Close” when you’re done.

   Remember, the person receiving your email must also have support for emojis on their device to be able to see them.

3. Method for Outlook 2019 Users

1. Start composing new message;
2. Select Insert menu and choose Icons item;
3. Click Faces group and choose one or several emojis;
4. Click Insert button and emojis will be inserted into the email.

4. Method for All Versions of Windows

Another way to insert emoticons in Outlook emails is to use the Symbol command:

• Begin composing your email (or replying/forwarding) and click on the Insert tab;
• On the right, there is a Symbol button, click it ➨ press on More symbols…;
• In the window that will appear, set the font to Segoe UI Emoji and scroll down to find emojis to be inserted in the email.

As not all the symbols of the Segoe UI Emoji font are emojis, it is possible to set the relevant subset to get to emoticons quicker. The most interesting ones are included in the subsets Miscellaneous Technical, Miscellaneous Symbols, Dingbats, Extended Characters — Plane 1. The last one is the subset with the largest collection of available emojis.

Finally, select emojis and press on the button Insert. Once you are done, click on Cancel to close the dialog window of symbols’ adding.

In the dialog window, you will see emojis in black and white. However, if your versions of Windows and Outlook support colored emoticons, they will be displayed in this way once they are added in an email.

The Quick Way to Add Emojis

It is quite possible that you are using Outlook for business communication. Therefore, the number of emojis you use is quite limited. In the case when you have no time to scroll through long lists of available emojis, you can use the AutoCorrect function:

• Take the steps above and add a thumbs-up emoji Outlook (or emojis) from the available ones;
• Choose one of them and click on AutoCorrect that is located in the bottom left corner of the dialog window;
• Check Replace text as you type and type the text that has to be automatically replaced with a chosen emoji.

The convenience of this method is undeniable, as every user can create a customized list of shortcuts for adding emojis in emails.

Final Say

Emojis have made messaging more expressive and colorful. Even business communication now allows for the use of emojis. So, utilize one of the above methods and let your correspondence be bright and colorful.