Easily explore Windows’ hidden emojis with winMoji

Windows has come with its own set of emojis for years, but they’re so well hidden that many users don’t realize they exist. WinMoji is a tiny open-source tool which makes it easier to find and use the built-in emojis.

Install and run the program and it displays the full smiley set in a scrolling box. No need to mess around with other Windows tools, they all on view and ready to use.

If you see an emoji you like, click it and it’s copied to the clipboard. Simple as that.

WinMoji also has a search box for text filtering. Start typing a descriptive keyword -- "ping", "Santa", "car", "smile" -- and the display updates with every character to show matches. Again, clicking anything sends it straight to the clipboard.

WinMoji works, but it’s extremely basic, and you don’t need to install any software at all to do something similar.

In Windows 10, for instance, right-click the taskbar and select "Show touch keyboard button."

Click the keyboard icon on your taskbar, then select the "smiley" button to see the emoji set.

The keyboard view displays larger images than winMoji, but can’t fit as many on the screen, and can’t be resized. Use the arrow keys to browse the full set.

The Windows keyboard view can’t search for emojis by text, but there are some filter buttons which do a similar job. You can view items related to cars, love, holidays, faces and more.

If you need to enter multiple emojis at once, the keyboard is best. Just keep clicking whatever you need and they’re automatically pasted into the document.

Meanwhile winMoji restricts you to one emoji at a time, but it copies this to the clipboard rather than inserting it directly into an application, which might be more convenient.

Overall, the Windows keyboard wins out for flexibility, but you might find winMoji useful too. Take a look.

WinMoji is a free tool for Windows 7 and later.