The copyright (©), trademark (™), and the registered (®) symbols are required to protect the original source of any document or product. If it falls under a copyright act, it needs to be marked out as such.

If you're someone who handles copyrights and trademarks on a daily basis, it helps to know how to insert or type them out yourself. So, let's explore how to type a copyright or trademark symbol in Windows.

To insert one of these symbols in Microsoft Word, select the Insert tab and open the Symbol drop-down menu. If the symbol you want to insert is not there, select More Symbols to see the huge list for each different font.

Microsoft Word symbols menu

There is a chance you will not find the symbol you are looking for, especially if haven’t used it before as Word doesn’t display it below Recently used symbols. There is a faster way than searching through the numerous subsets. The copyright, registered, and trademark symbols are listed in the Special Characters list.

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But to save time, applying the symbols with keystrokes is always better. The shortcut keys are:

  • Ctrl+Alt+C=© (The Copyright Symbol). Alternatively, type an open parenthesis - type c and close the parenthesis. MS Word automatically creates the symbol.
  • Ctrl+Alt+T=TM (The Trademark Symbol). Alternatively, type an open parenthesis - type tm and close the parenthesis. MS Word automatically creates the symbol.
  • Ctrl+Alt+R=® (The Registered Symbol). Alternatively, type an open parenthesis - type r and close the parenthesis. MS Word automatically creates the symbol.

If Word doesn’t create the symbols when you close the parenthesis, you should take a look at the AutoCorrect settings. Bring up the Symbols window as shown before and click Autocorrect. There, check the Replace text as you type option.

Microsoft Word autocorrect

In any Windows application like Notepad or Photoshop, the numeric keypad is used in combination with the Alt key. Activate the numeric keypad by pressing the NumLock key.

  • For the Copyright symbol (©), hold the Alt key down and type 0169.
  • For the Trademark symbol (TM), hold the Alt key down and type 0153.
  • For the Registered symbol (®), hold the Alt key down and type 0174.

In any HTML coding application, HTML symbols can be created using the same number combination in the source code but prefixed with &# and a semi-colon in the end.

  • For the Copyright symbol (©): © Alternatively, for copyright symbols, © can also be used.
  • For the Trademark symbol (™): ™ Alternatively, for trademark symbols, ™ can also be used.
  • For the Registered symbol (®): ® Alternatively, for registered symbols, ® can also be used.

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Some Points To Note

If you're using these symbols on a daily basis, there are some things to keep in mind:

  • The clarity of the symbols may need to be adjusted by changing either the font size or the font itself.
  • The copyright © symbol is always on the baseline.
  • The trademark (™) symbol is always superscripted.
  • The registered trademark ® symbol can be on the baseline or superscripted.
  • You can insert these symbols from Character Map. To access it, press Win + R to open a Run dialog. Then, type charmap and press OK. This will launch Character Map
Character Map

With the huge list of characters, finding them is a chore and will halt your productivity. In this case, using a keystroke is definitely faster.

Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts

If you're tired of copy-pasting symbols from a Google search, there is an easier way. Now you know how to manually insert copyright and trademark symbols, whether you're inserting them in Word or typing them out in HTML.