Do you need to use a degree symbol in your workbook? This post is going to show you how to insert a degree symbol into Google Sheets!

The degree symbol (°) is a frequently-used symbol for a variety of measurements, including temperature, geographic coordinates, and mathematical angles.

Despite its pervasiveness, the degree symbol doesn’t appear on standard keyboards. Some special effort is required to insert it into your Google Sheets.

This post explains all the different ways to add the degree symbol into a cell in Google Sheets. Get your copy of the example workbook to follow along.

Insert a Degree Symbol with Copy and Paste

Even though Google Sheets does not have a specific menu to accommodate the degree symbol, there are other sources from which the degree symbol can be copied.

For example, you may find a webpage that already contains the degree symbol, so you could use that as your source.

°

Lucky for you, this very post has a degree symbol above that you can use!

As with any other text, you can highlight the above degree symbol with your mouse and press Ctrl + C to copy it. Then, go to Google Sheets, place your cursor in the desired position within your cell and press Ctrl + V to paste it.

The above screenshot shows the degree symbol pasted into cell B3.

Insert a Degree Symbol with CHAR Function

There are several functions that allow you access to the degree symbol. One such function is CHAR. The idea behind the CHAR function is to produce the symbol by using its unique numeric representation.

= B3 & CHAR(176) & "C"

To implement the CHAR function against your number in cell B3, first select cell C3, then copy and paste the above formula into the formula bar.

The constant 176 is the Unicode constant that universally represents the degree symbol. The ampersand operator (&) joins your number, the degree symbol, and the letter "C" to form a temperature displayed as degrees Celsius (°C).

To run your formula, press Enter and your degree symbol will appear!

To copy the formula to other rows, hover your cursor over the lower-right corner of cell C3 until the cursor changes to a plus sign (+). Then left-click and drag your mouse down column C.

Insert a Degree Symbol with UNICHAR Function

The UNICHAR function is another function that allows you to insert a degree symbol.

Similar to the CHAR function, the UNICHAR function converts a given Unicode constant into its corresponding character.

Though some of the constants return the same result as the CHAR function, UNICHAR supports a greater language setup than CHAR.

= B3 & UNICHAR(176) & "C"

To proceed against your number in cell B3, first select cell C3, then copy and paste the above formula into your formula bar.

Notice the above argument 176 is the same constant used in both the UNICHAR and CHAR functions. This is because 176 happens to be within the extended ASCII character set common to both functions.

The above ampersand operator (&) joins your number, the degree symbol, and the letter "C". The result is your number displayed alongside the degrees Celsius abbreviation (°C).

Ensure you press Enter to run the formula and see above how the degree symbol gets included!

To copy the formula to other rows, hover your cursor over the lower-right corner of cell C3 until the cursor changes to a plus sign (+), then left-click and drag your mouse down column C.

As an alternative to the above formula, there is a shorter version that can handle, not only degrees Celsius but also degrees Fahrenheit (°F).

= B3 & UNICHAR ( 8451 )

To demonstrate the shortened version for degrees Celsius, first, select cell D3 and then copy and paste the above formula into your formula bar.

In this version, you don’t specify the letter "C" because the UNICHAR constant 8451 represents degrees Celsius in its entirety. The ampersand operator (&) appends your number to degrees Celsius.

After you press Enter to execute the formula, the result displays in cell D3.

To copy the formula to other rows, hover your cursor over the lower-right corner of cell D3 until the cursor changes to a plus sign (+), then left-click and drag your mouse down column D.

As you can see above, this shorter formula version yields the same results as the longer version!

= B3 & UNICHAR ( 8457 )

The shortened version for degrees Fahrenheit is similar. Select cell E3, then copy and paste the above formula into your formula bar.

The argument 8457 is the constant that represents degrees Fahrenheit. The ampersand operator (&) appends your number to degrees Fahrenheit.

Press Enter and you can see above how your number now displays as degrees Fahrenheit!

To copy the formula to other rows, hover your cursor over the lower-right corner of cell E3 until the cursor changes to a plus sign (+), then left-click and drag your mouse down column E.

Insert a Degree Symbol with Custom Number Format

By using a custom number format, you can “insert” a degree symbol without changing your cell’s value. In other words, only your cell’s display would be affected.

To apply a custom number format, select your desired cells, then go to the Format menu, drill into the Number menu and select Custom number format.

#,##0.0°C;-#,##0.0°C;0.0°C

In the Custom number formats dialog, paste the above format into the textbox. The format describes how to display your number under three scenarios.

• A positive number
• A negative number
• A zero value

Each scenario is separated by a semi-colon (;). In this case, a positive number will display as #,##0.0°C, meaning the number will contain a comma (,) as a thousand separator and will show one digit to the right of the decimal point.

The unit of measurement of degrees Celsius is indicated by °C and will also show at the end of a number.

The other two scenarios, negative and zero, are similar except for the inclusion of the preceding dash (-) and the lack of a thousand separators, respectively.

Click Apply to apply the format and close the dialog box.

Your selected cells appear in accordance with your custom number format which includes the degree symbol!

📝 Note: The degree symbol is automatically applied at the end of any number you enter. No need to manually enter the symbol.

Insert a Degree Symbol with TEXT Function

The TEXT function incorporates the same features as a custom number format while inheriting the benefits of being a function, so it can certainly handle the degree symbol.

= TEXT ( B3 , "#,##0.0°C;-#,##0.0°C;0.0°C" )

To use the TEXT function against a number in cell B3, first select cell C3, then copy and paste the above formula into the formula bar.

The first argument B3 is simply a reference to the cell containing your number. The second argument, "#,##0.0°C;-#,##0.0°C;0.0°C", is your custom number format.

This format is the same one described in the Custom Number Format section of this post. The format is surrounded by double quotes (") because the TEXT function expects the format to be a string.

Press Enter to execute the formula and watch as your number displays the degree symbol!

To copy the formula to other rows, hover your cursor over the lower-right corner of cell C3 until the cursor changes to a plus sign (+), then left-click and drag your mouse down column C.

Insert a Degree Symbol with QUERY Function

The QUERY function is another function capable of inserting a degree symbol through formatting. By leveraging the Google Visualization API Query Language, you can also apply that formatting to multiple cells at once!

= QUERY ( B3:B7 , "SELECT B FORMAT B '#,##0.0°C;-#,##0.0°C;0.0°C'" )

Given the range of numbers shown above, you can create a formatted version by first selecting cell C3, then copying and pasting the above formula into the formula bar.

The first argument above, B3:B7 is the range containing your numbers. The second argument is the query, surrounded by quotation marks (") because it’s entered as a text string.

The first portion of the query SELECT B tells Google to return a new version of the column B numbers. The second part FORMAT B specifies that the new version will be a format operation.

The remaining part of the query '#,##0.0°C;-#,##0.0°C;0.0°C' is the format detail surrounded by apostrophes ('). The format detail adheres to the same rules as described in the Custom Number Format section of this post.

To run the formula, press Enter. Notice how all the cells C3 thru C7 get populated at once with their degree symbol!

Conclusions

The degree symbol is sometimes needed to add additional context to your numeric data. This post has summarized the different ways to insert a degree symbol into Google Sheets.

If you already have a degree symbol available in another source, then copying and pasting it is a good way forward. If you don’t have the symbol at hand, then you can create it using the CHAR or UNICHAR functions.

You may need to maintain your cell values as numbers for calculation purposes, in which case the custom number format method may be a better option. This custom format can also be achieved with the TEXT function, but the result will be a text value that may not be suitable.

Finally, you should consider the QUERY function if complex calculations are needed, particularly if your data is in a table-like formation where each column represents a field of data.

How do you add the degree symbol to your data? Let me know in the comments below!