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How to Make an Em Dash in Google Docs

Learn to manage this symbol on your Google Docs files

3 min. read

Updated onOctober 19, 2023

updated onOctober 19, 2023

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Key notes

The em dash (—) is a long dash punctuation mark that can be added to set off non-essential sentence clauses. However, the long hyphen symbol is not widely utilized.

Consequently, em dash keys are widely omitted from standardQWERTY keyboards.

So, some users might wonder how to add long hyphens toGoogle Docsdocuments. Read on to find out what are your options.

There are numerous ways you can add long hyphens to documents. Here are six alternative methods for entering the em dash inGoogle Docs.

How can I use an em dash in Google Docs?

1. Manually insert the long dash in Google Docs

Open a Google Docs document.
Select the place in the document in which you need to add the em dash to.

3.ClickInsert>Special Charactersto open the window in the shot directly below.

4.Inputem dashin theSearch by keywordbox.

Then click on the result to add it the symbol to the document.

Whenever you’re editing a Google Doc file, you can add an em dash with just a few clicks. All you need to do is open your file, and then insert the symbol viaSpecial Characters.

2. Add the em dash to Docs’ automatic substitutions

3. Copy the long hyphen with Windows 10’s Character Map

4. Desktop Chrome: Insert / Find & Replace

5. Press theem dash keyboard shortcut in Google Docs

You can alsoenable or disable Strikethrough on a document on Google Docs; to know more, read this guide.

6. macOS(method)

MacOS users don’t need to select em dash inGoogle Docs. Instead, press theShift + Option + Minushotkey for the symbol on the macOS keyboard.

Pressing the hyphen key twice and Space bar will also add a long dash to documents in macOS.

7. Android or iOS: Long-hold hyphen

You can add long dashes to documents with the on-screen keyboards on some Android and iOS mobiles.

To do that, tap and hold the hyphen key until your mobile’s on-screen keyboard displays alternative character options. Select the longest dash, which is the em dash.

These are the most efficient ways to add the long hyphen to documents in GoogleDocsand otherword processors.

Users can utilize GoogleDocs’ Special Characters utility, but that tool isn’t essential for entering em dashes within theDocsword processor.

Let us know in the comments section below if you managed to make long dashes in your Google Doc files.

How to Make an Em Dash in Google Docs#

How can I use an em dash in Google Docs?#

1. Manually insert the long dash in Google Docs#

2. Add the em dash to Docs’ automatic substitutions#

3. Copy the long hyphen with Windows 10’s Character Map#

4. Desktop Chrome: Insert / Find & Replace#

5. Press theem dash keyboard shortcut in Google Docs#

6. macOS(method)#

7. Android or iOS: Long-hold hyphen#