How to Type a Blank Character on Keyboard (4 Best Ways)

In today’s article, you’ll learn about all the available methods you can use to type the Blank Character using your keyboard on both Windows and Mac.

Blank Character is also known as Empty Character or Whitespace Character.

Just before we begin, I’d like to let you know that you can also use the button below to copy and paste the Blank Character into your work for free.

However, if you want to type this symbol with your keyboard, the actionable steps below will show you how to do that.

Blank Character [­] Quick Help

To type the Empty Character letter on Mac, press Option + Space shortcut on your Mac keyboard. For Windows users, simply press down the Alt key and, using the numeric keypad, type 0173 (i.e., Empty Character alt code), then let go of the Alt key. If you are using MS Word, type 00A0, highlight this code, and press Alt+X.

These shortcuts work everywhere, including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, on the Web, on both Windows and Mac keyboards.

The below table contains all the shortcuts and alt codes you need to type the Blank Character on the keyboard.

Symbol Name	Empty Character
Symbol	­
Alt Code	0173
Windows Shortcut	Alt+0173
Mac Shortcut	Option + Space
MS Word Shortcut	00A0, Alt+X

The above guide provides some quick shortcuts and alt codes on how to type the Blank Character on both Windows and Mac. However, below are some other methods you can also use to insert this symbol into your Word or Excel document.

How to type a Blank Character on Keyboard

Both Windows and Mac provide 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 some different methods you can use to get the Blanksign anywhere on your PC, including in your Browser or in MS Office (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) for both Mac and Windows users.

Without any further ado, let’s get started.

Using the Empty Character Alt Code (Windows)

The Blank Character alt code is 0173.

Even though this Blank Symbol does not have a dedicated key on the keyboard, you can still type it using the Alt code method. To do this, press and hold the Alt key and type the Alt code (0173) using the numeric keypad.

This method works on Windows only. And your keyboard must also have a separate numeric keypad.

Below is a break-down of the steps you can follow to type this symbol on your Windows PC:

• Place your insertion pointer where you need the Blank Character.
• Press and hold one of the Alt keys on your keyboard.
• Whilst holding on to the Alt key, press the Empty Character alt code (0173). 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 pressing Fn + NmLk 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 Word using the Alt Code method.

Using Empty Character Shortcut (Mac and Windows)

For Mac users, the keyboard shortcut for Empty Character is Option + Space. For Windows users, use the Alt Code method by pressing down the [Alt] key whilst typing the Empty Character alt code which is 0173.

If you are using the Alt Code method, you must type the Alt Code using the numeric keypad. Also, ensure that your Num Lock key is turned on.

Below is a breakdown of the Blank Character shortcut for Mac:

To type EMPTY CHARACTER letter on Mac,

• First, place the insertion pointer where you need to type this character.
• Now, press Option + Space on your keyboard to insert the symbol.

Below is a breakdown of the Empty Character shortcut for Windows:

To type Empty Character on Windows,

• Place the insertion pointer at the desired location.
• Press and hold down the Alt key
• While pressing down the Alt key, type 0173 using the numeric keypad to insert the symbol.

To type Empty Character on Word,

• Click to place the insertion pointer where you need the Blank Symbol.
• Type 00A0, then select it and press Alt+X to convert this code to Blank Character.

These are the steps you may use to type this sign in Word or Excel, whether you are using Windows or Mac.

Copy and Paste Blank Character

Another easy way to get the Empty Character on any PC is to use my favorite method: copy and paste.

All you have to do is to copy the character from somewhere like a web page, or the character map for windows users, and switch 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 click the button to copy, switch over to MS Word or Excel, 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 the Blank Symbol using the character map dialog box.

• Click on the Start button and search for Character Map. The Character Map app will appear in the search results, click to open.

• The Character Map dialog will appear. Click to check the Advanced view check-box to expand the dialog box for more advanced options.

• On the advanced view options, type no-break space in the Search box.
• The first empty box on the character map is the Empty Character.
• After you select the symbol by double-clicking it, it should appear in the Character to copy: field even though you cannot see it, then click on the Copy button to copy the symbol.

• Switch to your Microsoft Word or Excel 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 the Empty Character on Windows PC.

Insert Blank Character (in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint)

The insert symbol dialog box is a library of symbols from where you can insert any symbol into your Office document with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Obey the following steps to insert Empty Character in Word or Excel 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 the Character code text box, type 00A0.
• The Empty Character letter symbol will appear selected. Simply double click on it or click on the Insert button to get it into your Word document.

• Close the window.

The symbol will then be inserted exactly where you placed the insertion pointer.

These are the steps you may use to insert a Blank Character in Word.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are several different methods you could use to type the Blank Character in Microsoft Word using your keyboard.

Using the shortcuts for both Windows and Mac is the fastest option for this task. Shortcuts are always fast.

Thank you very much for reading this blog.