How to insert Greek symbols very quickly

PowerPoint 365
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 or Alt+code shortcuts.

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 2016

   2.   On the Symbol dialog box:

  • In the Font dropdown list, choose the Symbol font:
    Font in Symbol dialog box in PowerPoint 2016
  • Choose the symbol you want to add into your slide:
    Symbol dialog box in PowerPoint 2016
  • Click Insert and then click Cancel.

   II.   Using Alt+code shortcuts: this way is the perfect one if you remember all codes:

In the slide, hold Alt and then enter the Unicode code of the symbol.

For example, for the Greek lambda letter, you need to hold Alt and then enter 108.

Note: you can see all the codes in the Symbol dialog box:

Codes in Symbol dialog box in PowerPoint 2016

   III.   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.   In the slide where you want to insert the symbol, click Alt+= to insert the equitation block:

Equitation in PowerPoint 2016

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

alpha symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \alpha kappa symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \kappa varrho symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \varrho
beta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \beta lambda symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \lambda sigma symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \sigma
chi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \chi mu symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \mu varsigma symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \varsigma
delta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \delta nu symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \nu tau symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \tau
epsilon symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \epsilon o symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \o upsilon symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \upsilon
varepsilon symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \varepsilon pi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \pi omega symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \omega
phi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \phi varpi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \varpi xi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \xi
varphi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \varphi theta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \theta psi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \psi
gamma symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \gamma vartheta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \vartheta zeta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \zeta
eta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \eta iota symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \iota rho symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \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 2016 \Delta Phi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Phi Gamma symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Gamma
Lambda symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Lambda Mu symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Mu Pi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Pi
Theta symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Theta Sigma symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Sigma Upsilon symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Upsilon
Omega symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Omega Hi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Hi Psi symbol in PowerPoint 2016 \Psi

How to insert other symbols and templates in an equation, see How to insert the mathematical and other symbols into the PowerPoint slide.

   3.   After entering the letter name, click the space, the sequence will be replaced by the corresponding symbol.

   4.   Click Alt+= again to exit from the equitation.

Now you can continue entering your text.

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

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

Options in PowerPoint 2016

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

Proofing Options in PowerPoint 2016

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

AutoCorrect dialog box in PowerPoint 2016

The Math AutoCorrect tab shows all Names of symbols that can be used for inserting the Greek letters and other mathematical symbols.

Note: AutoCorrect options work through all Microsoft Office products 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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