Insert the North West or Top Left Arrow ↖ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac.
North West Arrow ↖ or “Top Left Arrow” can be used for directions on a map (naturally) or pointing to ‘top left’ in a Word / PowerPoint table or Excel cell.
How North West Arrow ↖ looks in different fonts.
Here’s some examples of how North West Arrow ↖ looks in common Office fonts – various options for the arrow head and line thickness
Left Arrow icons rotated
There are also ‘left arrow’ options in modern Office icons (Insert | Illustrations | Icons ). Search for ‘left arrow’ then select one that suits or is nearly right.
Rotate any icon so it points exactly where you want. Here we’ve inserted the circled left arrow and rotated it (look for the rotate handle) to the exact direction we want.
North West Arrow ↖ codes
These are the important code numbers or values you’ll need to enter the North West Arrow or ↖
Decimal: 8598 Hex: 2196
Web: ↖ or ↖ or ↖
(web codes aren’t used in Microsoft Office, we’ve included them for the sake of completeness.)
Word and Outlook
The North West Arrow ↖ sign does NOT have an inbuilt shortcut in Word.
Use the standard Word Alt + X symbol shortcut 2196 + Alt + X
Once in a document you can copy it to AutoCorrect and make your own shortcut.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert | Symbols | Symbol and look for the North West Arrow symbol.
Windows
In Windows there are several shortcuts to enter the North West Arrow ↖ character into any program, but they use a numeric keypad, not the number row above the letters.
Alt + 8598
Window 10 Emoji Panel
The Windows 11/10 Emoji Panel has the Omega symbol Ω. Use Win + . (period/fullstop) to open the panel. Go to Symbols | Geometric symbols …
See Emoji Panel is part of Windows 10 that totally sucks
Windows Character Map
The Windows Character Map accessory in all Windows releases
Character Map has a search feature, something missing from the Insert | Symbol in Office.
MacOS and Office for Mac inserting characters
On a Mac, to enter the North West Arrow ↖ symbol:
- Command + Control + Spacebar shortcut to open the Character Viewer.
- Search for “ North West Arrow “ or just “Arrow” and the Viewer should find the symbol you need.
Despite the name Character Viewer, the Apple system tool will also insert characters into any program, including Office for Mac.
Make lines and arrows straight – a Word bug fix
Right arrow → symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Up Down Arrow ↕ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Connecting Shapes in Office with lines or arrows
