How to Type Diameter Symbol in Excel?

Wondering how to insert the Diameter symbol in Excel? Well, wonder no more.

Diameter is an important symbol that is often used for working with circular object data and getting measurements. Excel offers a variety of ways you can use to insert the diameter symbol in your worksheet.

We have explained the most common methods below in great detail. Let’s jump right into it to see how they work and learn all about them.

1. Copy and Paste the Diameter Symbol

The easiest method to insert the diameter symbol in Excel is to copy and paste it into the worksheet. Let’s see a quick demo of it below.

To insert the Diameter symbol,

  1. Select the following Diameter symbol and copy it to the clipboard.

Ø

  1. Select the relevant cell where you want to insert the Diameter symbol.
relevant cell
  1. Right-click the active cell, and under Paste options, select Match Destination Formatting (M).
Related Articles: Conditional Formatting on Another Cell
                            Copy Formatting in Excel
Select the paste option
  1. The Diameter symbol will be pasted in the selected cell in your worksheet.
The diameter symbol appears

You can now adjust the alignment as desired. Pretty easy, right?

TIP!

You can also use CTRL + V to paste the Diameter symbol, but that pasted text will include the source formatting. That is why we use Match Destination Formatting (M) option under Paste - it automatically adjusts the formatting of the pasted data in accordance will the target cell. Easy, no? 

2. Keyboard Shortcut

Another cool way to insert the Diameter symbol in Excel is to use keyboard shortcuts. This method is well-suited for people who prefer sticking to the keyboard rather than switching to the mouse over and over again.

The best part is that this method takes less than three seconds to be effective. Want to see what’s it about? Let’s learn it all below.

To insert the Diameter symbol,

  1. Select the relevant cell where you want to insert the Diameter symbol.
relevant cell
  1. On your keyboard, press and hold the Alt key.
  2. Press 0216 keys on your keyboard.
  3. Release the Alt key.
  4. The Diameter symbol will appear in the cell as:
The diameter symbol appears

Pretty quick, right?

COMMENT

Make sure to use your keyboard's numeric keypad for this shortcut. You will not get the desired result if you use the number keys on the top of the keyboard. That's because of the difference in key codes and their interpretation by the device.

The Alt key essentially helps enter the ASCII code point in decimal form. The numeric keypad lets you enter the codes using ASCII, as it is specially designed for this purpose. The keys at the top of the keyboard, on the other hand, are not mapped to ASCII points.

That is why when you use keys from the top of the keyboard, the computer reads the numbers as regular numerical input and not some code point. Hence, it does not return the desired character. 

3. The Insert Tab

One of the most commonly used ways of inserting Diameter along with other symbols is using the Insert tab. It offers two different ways you can use to insert the symbol. Let’s see them both below.

Type Diameter Symbol Using Symbol Option

Excel offers a variety of commonly used built-in symbols – one of which is the Diameter symbol. We will use the Excel Symbol option to insert the Diameter in our worksheet as shown below.

To insert the Diameter symbol,

  1. Select cell A2 in your worksheet.
relevant cell
  1. Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon.
  2. At the end of the ribbon, click Symbols and select Symbol from the dropdown.
Go to Insert > Symbols
  1. The Symbol dialogue box will appear on the screen.
  2. Select ASCII (decimal) from the dropdown in the ‘from’ box.
  3. Type in 216 in the Character code box to select the Diameter symbol.
  4. Press Insert.
Type in 216 and press Insert

The Diameter symbol will appear in the selected cell as:

The diameter symbol appears

Pretty cool, right? Try it now.

Other symbols you can insert in Excel through this method include the following:

Type Diameter Symbol Using Ink Equation

You can also insert the Diameter symbol in Excel using the Ink equation. In Ink equation, you draw the figure of the symbol using your mousepad or stylus on the screen in a dialogue box. The input control then matches the drawn figure with a list of symbols.

Once your drawn figure matches a symbol in the list, Excel will display the symbol at the top of the input control window as if digitally created. You can then insert it into your worksheet and use it however desired. Let’s now see a quick demo of how to use it below.

  1. Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon.
  2. Click on Symbols at the end of the tab.
  3. Click on the arrow under Equation in the dropdown menu.
Go to Insert > Symbols
  1. Select Ink Equation from the bottom of the list that appears.
Select Ink equation

A Math Input Control window will appear on the screen.

  1. In the yellow gridlines box, draw the Diameter symbol.

The window will show you its digital print as soon as it recognizes it.

Draw the diameter symbol

The Math Input Control picks up the symbol.

  1. Now, press Insert on the window if you want to insert it only once.

The Diameter symbol will appear in your worksheet in a tiny text box. You can move the symbol to the relevant cell by repositioning it.

The diameter symbol appears

And it’s done. Quick and easy!

4. UNICHAR Function

The UNICHAR function is yet another fun way to insert the Diameter symbol in Excel. You just need to type in the special number representing the symbol, and it’s done. Let’s see a quick demo below.

  1. Select a relevant cell where you want to insert the symbol.
  2. Type in the UNICHAR formula as:

=UNICHAR(216)

The unichar function with code
  1. Press Enter.

And Ta-da! The UNICHAR function will return the Diameter symbol in the selected cell as:

The diameter symbol appears

That took less than five seconds! Try it now!

5. The AutoCorrect Option

The AutoCorrect option is another cool way you can use to insert the Diameter symbol and impress your friends and colleagues.

What happens is that you set a certain word to be replaced by the Diameter symbol in Excel. Then whenever that specific word is typed in Excel, AutoCorrect will change it to the symbol.

Sounds fun, right? Let’s see how to do it below.

  1. Go to the File tab on the ribbon.
  2. Select Options at the bottom.
Select Options from the categories

The Excel Options dialogue box will appear on the screen.

  1. Select Proofing from the Categories.
  2. Under AutoCorrect options, click on the AutoCorrect Options button.
Go to Proofing > AutoCorrect options

This will open the AutoCorrect dialogue box.

  1. In the Replace box, type in Diame.
  2. In the With box, copy and paste the following Diameter symbol.

Ø

  1. Click Add on the window.
Type in Diame in replace and symbol in with box
  1. Click Ok on the Excel Options window.

And it’s done. Now whenever you type Diame, Excel will automatically convert the word to Diameter’s symbol for you – similar to what’s shown below.

  1. Type Diame in cell A2.
Enter Diame in a cell
  1. Press Enter

The Diameter symbol will appear in the active cell as:

The diameter symbol appears

How cool is that?

6. Using VBA

You can also use VBA to insert the Diameter symbol in Excel. All you need to do is write a code and execute it – VBA will do the rest for you.

Let’s see a quick demo of that below.

  1. Select a cell in the worksheet to activate it.
  2. Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic application, or go to Developer on the ribbon and select Visual Basic.
Go to Developer > Visual Basic

The Microsoft Visual Basic window will pop up on the screen.

  1. In the menu bar, go to Insert and select Module.
Go to Insert > Module
  1. Copy the following code and paste it into the Module2 window.
Sub InsertDiameterSymbol()

    Dim diameterSymbol As String

    diameterSymbol = ChrW(8960) ' Unicode code point for diameter symbol

    ' Insert the diameter symbol into cell A2

    Range("A2").Value = diameterSymbol

End Sub
  1. Press F5 to execute the code, or go to the Run tab in the menu bar and select Run.
Go to Run

The Diameter symbol will appear in the selected cell as:

The diameter symbol appears
TIP!

You can also run the code using Macro. Simply press Alt + F8 on your keyboard or go to the Developer tab on the ribbon and select Macro. Select InsertDiameterSymbol from the Macro name and press Run.

It's done! The Macro will insert the Diameter symbol in cell A2 instantly. Copy the above written code and try it now. 

7. Using Character Map

If you’re hearing about this for the first time the first question on your mind must be ‘What’s a Character Map and how does it work?’ Well, worry not – everything is explained in detail below.

A Character Map is an application in Windows that holds a huge collection of symbols, and special characters available in different character encoding. It gives you access to all the symbols and characters that are not accessible using a standard keyboard.

In this method, we will extract a single Diameter symbol from Character Map and insert it in our worksheet. Let’s now see how to use it below.

  1. On your taskbar, click on the Windows icon and type in Character Map.
  2. Select the first option that appears.
Character map on windows

The Character Map dialogue box will appear on the screen.

  1. Check mark the Advanced View option.
  2. At the bottom, in the Search for box, type “o with stroke.”
  3. Press Enter.
Select advanced view and type in the text
  1. The window will move your selection to the Diameter symbol.
  2. Press Select and then Copy.
Select the symbol and copy it to clipboard

The Diameter symbol will be copied to your clipboard.

  1. Now, open the Excel application and select the relevant cell where you want to insert the symbol.
  2. Press CTRL + V or right-click the cell and select Paste from the options.

Once done, the Diameter symbol will appear in the selected cell as:

The diameter symbol appears

Pretty cool, right? This technique is extremely helpful especially if you need to insert other symbols that are not a part of the Excel application.

Conclusion

In this guide, we saw how to insert the Diameter symbol in Excel using different ways. We saw a cool keyboard shortcut, a VBA code, the UNICHAR function, an Ink equation and a lot more.

Our favorite method of inserting the Diameter symbol is using the UNICHAR function and writing the code.

Have you found yours? If not, then what are you waiting for? Try the above-explained methods now and select the one that suits you best.

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