How to Do a Back Slash When Your Keyboard Doe Snot Have It
The Backslash "\" symbol is the reverse of the slash or forward slash symbol (/).
In today's article, you'll learn about all the available methods you can use to type the Backslash Symbol on your keyboard, whether you are using Windows or Mac, and whether you are working with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or in your browser.
Without any further ado, let's get started.
But before we begin, you can also easily copy and paste the backslash symbol using the button below.
However, if copy and paste aren't what you are looking for, continue reading below on how you can type the backslash symbol on your keyboard.
Backslash Symbol [\] Quick Help
| Symbol Name | Revers Solidus |
| Symbol | \ |
| Alt Code | 92 |
| Windows shortcut | Alt+92 |
| Mac Shortcut | Alt+7 or alt+shift+7 or alt+shift+/ |
To type the backslash symbol on your keyboard, press and hold the Alt key and type the Backslash alt code which is92 on the numeric keypad, then release the alt key. For Mac users, press on your keyboard, Alt+7 or alt+shift+7 or alt+shift+/. The shortcut you use depends on your keyboard type.
The above quick guide provides some useful information about the Backslash symbol including shortcuts and alt codes you can use on both Windows and Mac. However, below are some other methods you can also leverage to insert this symbol into your Word document.
5 ways to type a Backslash [\] symbol in Word/Excel/PowerPoint
Microsoft Office provides several methods for typing or inserting symbols that do not have dedicated keys on the keyboard.
In this section, I will make available for you five different methods you can use to type or insert the Backslash symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or any text editor for both Mac and Windows users.
Without any further ado, let's get started.
Using the Backslash key on the keyboard
Depending on the type of keyboard you are using, you may not see any key with the backslash symbol. However, in most cases, it is there somewhere on one of the keys.
So, where is the backslash symbol key:
On most keyboards, the backslash symbol key is located close to the Enter or Return key. In most cases, it is located directly to the left of the Enter or Return key but is also sometimes placed below or above the Enter key. On Mac, it is placed directly above the Return key.
Using the Backslash Alt Code (Windows Only)
The Backslash Symbol alt code is92. Even though this symbol has a dedicated key on most English keyboards, you can also use the Alt Numpad Input Method (AKA Alt Code Method) to type this symbol. This can be done by pressing and holding the Alt key whilst typing the Backslash symbol Alt code (92) using the numeric keypad.
This method is for Windows only. And your keyboard must also have a numeric keypad.
If you don't still get it, just obey the following instructions to type the backslash symbol using the alt code method:
- Place your insertion pointer where you need the symbol.
- Press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard.
- Whilst holding on to the Alt key, press the symbol's alt code (92). You must use the numeric keypad to type the alt code. If you are using a laptop without the numeric keypad, this method may not work for you. On some laptops, there's a hidden numeric keypad which you can enable by pressingFn+NmLk keystrokes on the keyboard.
- Release the Alt key after typing the Alt code to insert the Symbol into your document.
This is how you may type this symbol in anywhere on your Windows PC using the Alt Code method.
Option 2: Using the Backslash Shortcut (Mac and Windows)
The keyboard shortcut for the Backslash Symbol for Mac is[Option] + [Shift] + [7] or alt+shift+/. For Windows users, use the Alt Code method by pressing down the alt key and typing the alt code of 92 on the numeric keypad.
To type the backslash with a shortcut, obey the instructions below:
- First of all, place the insertion pointer where you need to type the Backslash symbol.
- For Mac users, press and hold theOption and theShift key and hit once on the [7] (seven) key.
- For windows users, press and hold the alt key and type92 on the number pad.
These are the steps you may use to type this symbol in Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
Option 3: Copy and Paste Backslash
Another easy way to get the Backslash symbol on any PC is to use my favorite method: copy and paste .
All you have to do is to copy the symbol from somewhere like a web page or the character map for windows users, and head over to where you need the symbol (say in Word or Excel), then hit Ctrl+V to paste.
Below is the symbol for you to copy and paste into your document. Just select it and press Ctrl+C to copy, switch over to Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint, place your insertion pointer at the desired location and press Ctrl+V to paste.
\
For windows users, you may also obey the following instructions to copy and paste this [\] and any other symbol using the character map dialog box.
- Click on theStart button and search for Character Map. The Character Map app will appear in the search results, click on it to open.
- The Character Map dialog will appear. Click on theAdvanced view check box to expand the dialog box for more options.
- On the advanced view, typeReverse Solidus in the Search box. This is the official name of the Backslash symbol.
- You should now see only the Backslash on the character map dialog. Double click on the symbol to select it. Alternatively, click on the Select button.
- After you select the symbol by double-clicking on it, it should appear in the Character to copy: field, then click on theCopy button to copy the symbol.
- Switch to your Microsoft Word document, place the insertion pointer at the desired location, and press Ctrl+V to paste.
This is how you may use the Character Map dialog to copy and paste any symbol on Windows PC.
Option 4: Using insert Symbol dialog box
The insert symbol dialog box is a library of symbols from where you can insert any symbol into your Word document with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Obey the following steps to insert the Backslash Symbol in Word using the insert symbol dialog box.
- Open your Word document.
- Click to place the insertion pointer where you wish to insert the symbol.
- Go to the Insert tab.
- In the Symbols category, click on the Symbol drop-down and select the More Symbols button.
- The Symbol dialog box will appear. In theSubset drop-down list, select Basic Latin to display symbols in that category which includes the Backslash symbol.
- Select the symbol and click on the Insert button. Alternatively, double click on the symbol to insert it into your Word document.
- Close the dialog.
The symbol will then be inserted exactly where you place the insertion pointer in the beginning.
These are the steps you may use to insert the Backslash symbol in Word or Excel or PowerPoint.
Option 5: Using AutoCorrect to Type Backslash in Word
Another approach you may use to obtain this symbol is through the AutoCorrect feature in Word.
AutoCorrect in MS Word is a facility designed for correcting spelling mistakes like thsi to this.
With this feature, you can assign your own shortcut to the backslash symbol. This way, you can easily type the backslash symbol using the shortcut you assigned.
For instance, if you happen to frequently type the Backslash symbol, you can assign a shortcut likeBSLASH to this symbol. This way, whenever you type the textBSLASH, Word will think that you actually wanted to type the Backslash (\) symbol and will convert it into\ automatically.
Without any further ado, below are the steps to make this happen.
- Go to the Insert tab.
- In the Symbols category, click on the Symbol drop-down and select More Symbols.
- The Symbol dialog box will appear. In theSubset drop-down list, select Basic Latin from the list to display the General Punctuation symbols which include the Backslash symbol.
- Select the backslash symbol and click on the AutoCorrect button.
- The AutoCorrect dialog box will appear. Select the 'Replace text as you type' checkbox.
- In the Replace: box, type BSLASH.
- By default, the With: box will contain the backslash sign. Just in case it is not there, please paste it there.
- Now click on the Add button and hit on OK.
At this point, whenever you type the textBSLASH in Word, it'll convert to the Backslash symbol.
However, below are some things you should note when you are using the AutoCorrect Method to type this symbol in Word.
- AutoCorrect is case sensitive. Meaning if you typebslash (in lowercase), Word will not autocorrect it for you unless you typeBSLASH(in uppercase). Whatever case you used to assign the AutoCorrect text is what Word will recognize.
- If there is any text before or after the AutoCorrect text, Word will consider the AutoCorrect text as part of the text and hence will not do any autocorrection. For example,XBSLASHwill not get converted since theBSLASHis joining with another characterX. However, X BSLASHwill convert to X \ since the X is separated from the BSLASH.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are several different methods you can use to type the Backslash Symbol in Microsoft Word.
Using the shortcuts for both Windows and Mac makes the fastest option for this task. Shortcuts are always fast and save time.
Thank you very much for reading this blog.
If you have any suggestion or question to ask about this article, please drop it in the comments below.
How to Do a Back Slash When Your Keyboard Doe Snot Have It
Source: https://howtotypeanything.com/type-backslash-symbol/
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