Excel should have the same Insert Symbol feature as Word.

There is currently no easy way to insert a symbol such as a degree sign in
Excel. It would be much easier to have a function like Insert Symbol from
Word to do this as one is typing rather than cut & paste from Word or using
the Character Map from Windows (outside of Excel).

Which version of Excel are you using? I'm using Excell 2002, and it does have the "insert symbol" dialog (Insert menu > Symbol...).

MS added it in xl2002.

But Chip Pearson has a couple of versions (depending on what you're running) at:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/download.htm
(look for Symbolizer and make sure you get the correct version)

KKilpatrick wrote:
>
> There is currently no easy way to insert a symbol such as a degree sign in
> Excel. It would be much easier to have a function like Insert Symbol from
> Word to do this as one is typing rather than cut & paste from Word or using
> the Character Map from Windows (outside of Excel).

--

Dave Peterson

The Character Map can be brought up in Excel.

Not as nice as Chip's add-in or the Insert>Symbol with 2002 and beyond.

Sub CharMap()
Dim taskID As Variant
On Error Resume Next
taskID = Shell("start charmap.exe")
If Err <> 0 Then _
MsgBox "CHARMAP.EXE is not installed on your machine."
End Sub

Assign to a button or shortcut key.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 16:12:21 -0500, Dave Peterson <[email protected]>
wrote:

>MS added it in xl2002.
>
>But Chip Pearson has a couple of versions (depending on what you're running) at:
>http://www.cpearson.com/excel/download.htm
>(look for Symbolizer and make sure you get the correct version)
>
>KKilpatrick wrote:
>>
>> There is currently no easy way to insert a symbol such as a degree sign in
>> Excel. It would be much easier to have a function like Insert Symbol from
>> Word to do this as one is typing rather than cut & paste from Word or using
>> the Character Map from Windows (outside of Excel).

And if you want the same effect, but without a macro:

flying window key - r (to show the windows start button|run dialog)
type
charmap
and hit enter.




Gord Dibben wrote:
>
> The Character Map can be brought up in Excel.
>
> Not as nice as Chip's add-in or the Insert>Symbol with 2002 and beyond.
>
> Sub CharMap()
> Dim taskID As Variant
> On Error Resume Next
> taskID = Shell("start charmap.exe")
> If Err <> 0 Then _
> MsgBox "CHARMAP.EXE is not installed on your machine."
> End Sub
>
> Assign to a button or shortcut key.
>
> Gord Dibben Excel MVP
>
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 16:12:21 -0500, Dave Peterson <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >MS added it in xl2002.
> >
> >But Chip Pearson has a couple of versions (depending on what you're running) at:
> >http://www.cpearson.com/excel/download.htm
> >(look for Symbolizer and make sure you get the correct version)
> >
> >KKilpatrick wrote:
> >>
> >> There is currently no easy way to insert a symbol such as a degree sign in
> >> Excel. It would be much easier to have a function like Insert Symbol from
> >> Word to do this as one is typing rather than cut & paste from Word or using
> >> the Character Map from Windows (outside of Excel).

--

Dave Peterson

It's not a nice method, but as you type, you can hold the Alt key and then (using only the numeric keypad on the right) type 167 and then release the Alt key - asssuming your base setup is the same you should get a º sign. This works only for those symbols for which you know the ascii value.
As I said, it's not nice but if all you want is a degree sign it is useable.