How to make a degree symbol in Excel is a simple yet essential skill. If you don’t know yet, this guide will help.

Working in Microsoft Excel can sometimes feel like navigating a maze, especially when it comes to finding small but important symbols like the degree sign. Whether you’re tracking temperatures or working on math problems, adding this symbol can seem harder than it should be if you’re unsure how to do it.

The good news? It’s actually pretty simple once you know the steps. In this Excel tutorial, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know so you can add the degree symbol effortlessly. Stick around, and you’ll have this handy Excel trick mastered in no time.

Excel Degree Symbol Using a Hotkey

Select the cell where you’d like to insert the degree symbol.

Press F2 to activate the cursor inside the cell. It’s essentially the cell edit mode.

Now, press the keyboard shortcut Alt + 0 + 1 + 7 + 6 simultaneously.

As you finish entering all the codes mentioned above, Excel adds the degree symbol.

Excel Degree Symbol Using a Formula

The Excel CHAR function allows you to render ASCII numbers into actual symbols or alphabets. It works well with formulas and data automation. You do not need to manually enter the symbol every time, which saves time and avoids mistakes. The ASCII number for the degree sign is 176.

To enter the degree symbol in a cell independently, type in the following formula and hit Enter:

=CHAR(176)

Excel will make the degree symbol in the selected cell.

If you’ve got a column full of temperature values to which you need to add the degree symbol, just like the dataset shown above, follow these instructions instead.

Select a cell adjacent to the first temperature value and enter the following formula:

=B2&CHAR(176)

In this formula, B2 is the reference for the temperature value. Change the cell reference to match your dataset.

Hit Enter to calculate the cell and Excel will insert the degree symbol.

Now, select this cell, and drag down the fill handle to copy and paste the formula to the rest of the cells in the same column.

This method works on all systems and Excel versions. You do not have to remember different shortcuts or copy the symbol from other places. It is a reliable way to add the degree symbol when working with large data or automated reports.

Excel Degree Symbol Using Format Cells

Select the cell range to which you want to add the degree symbol.

Press Ctrl + 1 to launch the Format Cells dialog box.

Click Custom below the Category column in the left side panel.

Enter the custom number formatting code 0° in the Type field.

Click OK to apply the new number formatting style.

You should see that the degree symbol has been added to all those cells you selected earlier.

Excel Degree Symbol Using AutoCorrect

If you often need to make degree symbols independently or with numbers in an Excel worksheet, this is the best method to try out. Here, I’ll show you how you can type a specific text string to enter the degree symbol without remembering any key combinations or formulas.

Go to the target worksheet and press Alt + F + T to launch the Excel Options dialog box.

Click on the Proofing menu in the left-side navigation panel.

Select the AutoCorrect Options button on the right side.

The AutoCorrect: English (United States) dialog box will open.

Type deg in the Replace field.

Copy a degree symbol from Microsoft Word or any other source and paste that into the With field.

Hit the Add button and then click OK to save.

Now, go to your worksheet and type deg in any cell.

Excel will change it to the degree symbol you used in the With field. Therefore, you must use the right symbol in the AutoCorrect Options dialog box.

If you wish to use this method to add a degree symbol to a numeric value in Excel, navigate to the source cell and press F2 to enter the edit mode.

Hit Space and then type in deg.

Hit Enter and Excel will add the degree symbol to the numeric value.

You can now manually remove the space between the number and the degree symbol.

Excel Degree Symbol Using the Insert Tab

Select the target cell and press F2 to enter the edit mode.

Press Alt + N + U to bring up the Symbol dialog box.

Look for the degree sign in the Symbols tab, select it, and hit the Insert button.

You should now see your degree symbol in the top right corner of the numerical value.

Excel Degree Symbol Using Power Query

When importing a large dataset using Power Query, you can add the degree symbol, and import the data to an Excel worksheet for further data analysis purposes.

Go to the Data tab and click on the Get Data command in the Get & Transform Data block.

A context menu will open with various data sources, like From Database, From Azure, and more.

Hover the cursor over any of the preferred options and click on the final data connector in the overflow menu.

For example, From Oracle Database if you’ve selected the From Database option previously.

Follow the on-screen instructions to import your external dataset into the Power Query Editor.

In this exercise, I’ve exported an Excel worksheet dataset to Power Query for data transformation.

You can easily do that by selecting the input dataset and clicking on the From Table/Range command.

Click OK on the Create Table dialog box to finalize the data import.

When on the Power Query Editor, click on the Add Column tab in the ribbon menu and select the Custom Column command in the General block.

You’ll see the Custom Column wizard. Type in the column name in the New column name field.

Enter the following Power Query M Code formula into the Custom column formula field:

Text.From([Mean Temp]) & "°"

Don’t forget to replace the text Mean Temp with the actual column name according to your worksheet.

Ensure there are no errors in the Power Query formula syntax. It should be indicated in the wizard itself.

Click OK to apply.

A new column will appear in the Power Query Editor tool showing the temperature values along with the degree symbols.

Click on the File tab and select the Close & Load To option.

Choose the Existing worksheet option in the Import Data dialog box and click on an empty cell in the destination worksheet.

The entire dataset of the Power Query will be imported back to your worksheet.

This might clutter or unnecessarily increase the size of the workbook. Select the redundant columns, right-click, and choose Delete in the context menu.

You’ve successfully made degree symbols in a large dataset using Power Query Editor.

Conclusions

So, now you know how to make a degree symbol in Excel using keyboard shortcuts, formulas, user interface commands, and Power Query.

All these methods are good in their own terms and suitable for different use cases.

Which one did you like the most? Do you know of a better way to add a degree symbol in Excel?

Use the comment box to let me know.