✨ You Can Use Emoji in File Names on Windows 10

✨ You Can Use Emoji in File Names on Windows 10

A file name with a cat emoji on Windows 10.

✨ You Can Use Emoji in File Names on Windows 10: Did you know that emoji work almost anywhere these days? You can use them in nearly any application on your computer. You can even insert them into file and folder names on Windows 10.

How to Use Emoji in File Names

This is easy thanks to Windows 10’s built-in emoji picker. It’s easy to miss—to open it, you have to press Windows+. (period) or Windows+; (semicolon.)

Adding an emoji to a file name in Windows 10 using File Explorer.

To insert an emoji into a file or folder name, just press the keyboard shortcut while renaming a file to open the picker. Start typing a search phrase to search the emoji—for example, type “dog” to search for dog-related emoji or “cat” to search for cat-related emoji—or use your mouse to click and scroll through the list. Press Enter or click an emoji to insert it.

Searching for cat emoji on Windows 10.

That’s it, you’re done—it’s that simple!

Files with emoji in their names on Windows 10.

RELATED: Can You Move Windows 10’s Notification Pop-ups?

Unicode Makes This Possible

This is all possible thanks to Unicode. Unicode includes “characters for all the writing systems of the world, modern and ancient,” according to The Unicode Consortium. It also includes emoji and various other symbols.

You’ll notice that, when you use emoji in file and folder names, you don’t get the full-color emoji you get elsewhere in Windows. You get small, black-and-white characters—just like you would when inserting emoji in Notepad.

Thanks to Unicode, any application that supports standard Unicode characters—even if it doesn’t support colorful emoji—can use the emoji characters found in standard fonts. Using an emoji in a filename is just like using a character or symbol from a different language. It just works.

Related :   A Free Microsoft Office: Is Office Online Worth Using?

Will It Break Anything?

In theory, some applications may not like these emoji if they don’t support unicode characters. However, modern applications are designed to work with a broad set of languages should properly support emoji.

For example, the classic Windows Command Prompt can’t see emoji characters in file names properly, but both PowerShell and Microsoft’s new Windows Terminal can display them properly.

How emoji are treated in Windows PowerShell and Command Prompt.

If you do run into a problem, you can always open File Explorer and rename the affected files and folders to remove the emoji characters. You can then use those files in applications that don’t properly support emoji file names.

RELATED: Don’t Worry: Windows 10’s Control Panel Is Safe (For Now)

, , , , , , , , , ,
Share:
Lucila is a freelance writer and lifelong learner with an ongoing curiosity to study new things. She enjoys checking out the latest grammar books and writing about video games more than anything else. If she's not running through Colorado’s breathtaking landscape, she's indoors hidden away in her cozy game room trolling noobs and leveling up an RPG character. She is a Final Fantasy IX apologist (although she loves them all… except XV), coffee aficionado, and a bit of a health nut. Lucila graduated from Western Kentucky University with a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Advertisement

Recent Comments