How to Add Special Characters in WordPress Posts

Special characters can transform your WordPress content from ordinary to professional.

At WPBeginner, we often use a special character (») in our blog posts to guide readers through specific pages or tabs, like directing them to the Plugins » Installed Plugins page.

This symbol makes instructions clearer and more visually appealing, improving readability for our users.

Through years of creating content, we’ve refined the best techniques for adding copyright symbols ©, trademark ™, registered ®, and other special characters.

These methods are simple, reliable, and work perfectly every time you need them.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the proven approaches that will make adding special characters easy.

Why Add Special Characters in WordPress Posts?

Adding special characters to the blog posts on your WordPress website can make your content visually appealing.

It can also help make your content easier to read by drawing the reader’s attention to key points.

For instance, if you use your company’s name in a blog post, adding a trademark character next to it will help highlight your business to readers.

Additionally, using special characters in your headlines and meta descriptions can improve your website’s SEO by making your content more interesting and attractive to users. In turn, this can improve your click-through rate.

Having said that, let’s see how to easily add special characters to your WordPress posts. We will cover three different methods, and you can use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use:

Method 1: Add Special Characters Using the WordPress Block Editor

If you are looking for an easy way to add special characters in the block editor using HTML entities, then this method is for you.

When you write a blog post, WordPress automatically formats it in HTML. It is the markup language used by almost all websites.

HTML comes with a list of HTML entities. These are special codes that you can use to display characters, symbols, arrows, and more.

They also allow you to add special characters in HTML that are not normally found in keyboard layouts.

For example, if you want to add a trademark ™ symbol, then you can use the HTML entity code ™ to display it.

Similarly, if you want to add a copyright © symbol, then you can use © code in your article.

Add Special Characters Using the Custom HTML Block

First, you will need to open a new or existing WordPress post in the block editor to add special characters.

Once there, click the add block ‘+’ button in the top left corner of the screen to open up the block menu.

From here, locate and add the Custom HTML block to the post. Next, simply type the HTML entity code for the special character into the block.

You will notice that each HTML entity code begins with an ampersand sign and ends with a semicolon.

Once you are done, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

Now, you can visit your post to check out the special characters displayed on your WordPress blog.

A wide range of special characters, including Latin characters, mathematical symbols, currencies, scientific measurement symbols, and more, are available as HTML entities.

For the complete reference guide, you may want to check out W3.org’s HTML character entity reference chart.

Add Special Characters Using the Code Editor

You can also add special characters to WordPress posts by switching to the code editor.

This option in the block editor allows users to view and edit the underlying HTML, CSS, or JavaScript code of different blocks. This makes it easy to add HTML entities.

First, open up a new or existing WordPress post in the block editor.

Once there, click the three-dotted menu at the top right corner of the screen to open up a dropdown menu. From here, click the ‘Code Editor’ option.

This will open up the code editor, where you can easily add the HTML entities in between text.

For example, if you want to add a trademark special character next to a product or company name, then you can easily do this by switching to the code editor.

Once you are done, you can save your changes by clicking the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button.

Now, you can visit your WordPress site to see the special characters in your posts.

Method 2: Add Special Characters Using a Plugin

If you frequently need to add special characters in your WordPress posts or pages, using a plugin can save you time and effort compared to looking up HTML entity codes each time.

We use the Insert Special Characters plugin at WPBeginner because it makes inserting symbols quick and effortless, right from the post editor. It’s a simple tool that saves clicks and keeps the writing flow uninterrupted.

First, you need to install and activate the Insert Special Characters plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, open up a post or page in the block editor to add special characters.

Once there, select a paragraph block and then click on the omega icon in the block toolbar at the top to bring up a popup displaying special characters.

From here, simply find the special character you want to add and then click on it to insert it into the editor.

Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

Method 3: Add Special Characters Using the Classic WordPress Editor

If you are still using the old classic editor in WordPress, then you can use this method to add special characters while writing blog posts.

Keep in mind that the classic editor comes with a built-in special characters feature.

First, open a new or existing post in the editor. Next, click on the kitchen sink button.

This will expand the second row of formatting options, where you must click the ‘Special character’ button.

Clicking on it will bring up a popup window showing some commonly-used special characters.

There are currency symbols, mathematical, copyright, registered signs, trademark symbols, and more.

Remember, this method will only work if you are using the old post editor in WYSIWYG mode.

If you are using it in the text editor mode, then you will either need to switch to the Visual editor or use the HTML entities method described above.

From here, you can simply click on the symbol or character you want to use, and it will be added to your post.

Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

Bonus: Add Emojis in Your WordPress Blog Posts

Apart from special characters, you may also want to add emojis to your WordPress blog posts.

Emojis are tiny image icons that can be used with text to express emotions and other expressions.

Inserting these icons into your website can add a splash of color and personality to your content, increase engagement, and make your posts more readable.

You can easily add emojis in your WordPress block editor (Gutenberg)by pressing the Windows +. (Period) shortcut keys on your keyboard.

Once you do that, a popup will open on the screen from where you can choose an emoji for your blog post. However, keep in mind that this method will only work if you use a Windows computer.

If you are a Mac user, then you must press the Command + Control + Space keys together to open the emojis prompt.

For detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to easily add emojis to your WordPress blog.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add special characters to WordPress posts and pages. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide on how to add underline and justify text buttons in WordPress and our beginner’s guide on how to add a link in WordPress.

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