How to type a heart symbol on Windows

Why the heart is Alt + 3

The original IBM PC displayed small pictures for the first 31 control codes: ☺ for 1, ☻ for 2, ♥ for 3, ♦ for 4, ♣ for 5 and ♠ for 6. Windows still maps Alt plus those numbers to the same characters, which is why a single keypress gives you the card-suit heart. It works in Word, Notepad, Outlook and the text boxes of most browsers.

Getting a red heart instead

♥ is a text character, so it takes your font colour. The red heart ❤️ is a different character with an emoji marker, and no alt code produces it. Open the emoji panel with Win + ., type “heart” and choose it; the panel also has 💕, 💖, 🧡 and the rest of the heart symbols collection. In Word the emoji may appear in black and white, depending on the font.

Laptops without a keypad

If your laptop has no keypad, look for small keypad digits printed on the letter keys and turn them on with Fn + NumLk. Otherwise, type 2665 then Alt + X in Word, or copy ♥ from the heart suit symbol page and pin it in clipboard history (Win + V).

If Alt + 3 types nothing

A few programs, including some games and command-line tools, discard the low control-code range. In those, use the emoji panel or paste the heart. If you see ♥ appear and then turn into a red emoji, the app is applying emoji style automatically; that is a display choice and the character itself is unchanged. The alt codes troubleshooting guide covers the other usual suspects, from Num Lock to remote desktop.