How to insert Greek symbols very quickly

PowerPoint 2016
When you create a presentation for a graduate thesis or dissertation, often, you need to insert Greek letters into the slide. Mathematical symbols and Greek letters are pervasive today and used everywhere, from physics to social science. You may use the equation block for inserting those symbols, but this block will have different format settings than the rest of your text, and you will not be able to edit it in older versions of Microsoft Office.

If you need to insert just a symbol, use the Symbol dialog box.

So, there are several different ways to do it:

   I.   The traditional method is to use the ribbon Symbol button (a popular approach for social science, which does not need much math in the text):

   1.   On the Insert tab, in the Symbols group, click the Symbol button:

Symbol in PowerPoint 365

   2.   On the Symbol dialog box:

  • From the Font dropdown list, choose the Symbol font:
    Font in Symbol dialog box in PowerPoint 365
  • Choose the symbol you want to add to your slide:
    Symbol dialog box in PowerPoint 365
  • Click the Insert button, then click the Cancel button to close the Symbol dialog box.

   II.   Using embedded equitation: this way is perfect if you don't need to care about the format and compatibility with previous versions of Microsoft Office (a popular approach for physical science and mathematics, which do need a lot of math in the text):

   1.   On the Insert tab, in the Symbols group, click the Equation button:

Equation in PowerPoint 365

PowerPoint adds the equation object in the middle of the slide:

Equitation in PowerPoint 365

See also how to add an equation to Text box or other object.

   2.   In the equitation object, you can enter any letter that you need just by typing \+Name of the letter without any additional effort:

alpha symbol in PowerPoint 365 \alpha kappa symbol in PowerPoint 365 \kappa varrho symbol in PowerPoint 365 \varrho
beta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \beta lambda symbol in PowerPoint 365 \lambda sigma symbol in PowerPoint 365 \sigma
chi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \chi mu symbol in PowerPoint 365 \mu varsigma symbol in PowerPoint 365 \varsigma
delta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \delta nu symbol in PowerPoint 365 \nu tau symbol in PowerPoint 365 \tau
epsilon symbol in PowerPoint 365 \epsilon o symbol in PowerPoint 365 \o upsilon symbol in PowerPoint 365 \upsilon
varepsilon symbol in PowerPoint 365 \varepsilon pi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \pi omega symbol in PowerPoint 365 \omega
phi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \phi varpi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \varpi xi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \xi
varphi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \varphi theta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \theta psi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \psi
gamma symbol in PowerPoint 365 \gamma vartheta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \vartheta zeta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \zeta
eta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \eta iota symbol in PowerPoint 365 \iota rho symbol in PowerPoint 365 \rho

To insert a capital letter of the Greek alphabet, simply enter \+Name of the letter starting with a capital letter:

Delta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Delta Phi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Phi Gamma symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Gamma
Lambda symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Lambda Mu symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Mu Pi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Pi
Theta symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Theta Sigma symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Sigma Upsilon symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Upsilon
Omega symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Omega Hi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Hi Psi symbol in PowerPoint 365 \Psi

See also How to insert the mathematical and other symbols into the PowerPoint slide.

   3.   After entering the letter name, click the space. The corresponding symbol will replace the sequence.

   4.   Click anywhere other than the equation object to exit the equitation.

Note: In the Autocorrect Options, you will find all Names of the symbol sequences that you can use. To open the Autocorrect dialog box, do the following:

   1.   On the File tab, click the Options button:

Options in PowerPoint 365

   2.   In the PowerPoint Options dialog box, on the Proofing tab, click the AutoCorrect Options... button:

Proofing Options in PowerPoint 365

   3.   In the AutoCorrect dialog box, choose the Math AutoCorrect tab:

AutoCorrect dialog box in PowerPoint 365

The Math AutoCorrect tab shows all Names of symbols that can be used to insert Greek letters and other mathematical symbols.

Note: AutoCorrect options work through all Microsoft Office applications on this PC, laptop, etc. If you change some of them in PowerPoint, you will see all changes also in Word, Outlook, and Excel.

See also this tip in French: Comment insérer des symboles grecs très rapidement.

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