- Windows 11 has a new keyboard shortcut to access an em dashboard
- To get this em dash previously, you had to hold down the Alt key and press a combination of numbers (or use the emoji panel).
- Both were complicated methods and the new shortcut is much better, although it’s debatable whether you should use scripts now, thanks to AI.
Have you ever wanted an em dash (known as ’em dash’) like this, in Windows 11, but didn’t know how to produce it? Microsoft is now introducing a keyboard shortcut to allow easier access to these longer scripts.
Windows Central noted that Jen Gentleman, Microsoft’s senior technical program manager, pointed out the move in X, noting that it is now rolling out gradually (starting with the September preview update for Windows 11).
Any em dash fans here? We’re currently rolling out a new Windows keyboard shortcut that you can directly enter em dash if you need to when typing 😊 pic.twitter.com/qvGONAWt2WOctober 22, 2025
The new keyboard shortcut for an em dash is to press the Windows key with the Shift key and the minus key all together (windows + Change + –). The same shortcut but without the Shift key (windows + –) you’ll get an ‘en’ dash, which looks like this, as opposed to the em dash, which is this one, a little longer as you can see.
The name comes from the days of traditional printing and typesetting, when the longest script was the same size as a capital M (phonetically) and the medium-sized script was the size of a capital N (phonetically).
Previously, if you wanted an em dash in Windows, you had to hold down the Alt key while pressing the numbers 0151 on the numeric keypad, which was ridiculous, frankly. Or even impossible for those who have a TKL or keyless keyboard (like me), a more compact platform that eliminates said numeric keypad (by the way, pressing the numbers on the keyboard platform will not work).
Those with a TKL keyboard can access the em dash using the emoji selection panel which can be invoked with the Windows key and period (windows + .), with the hyphen hidden in the symbols tab.
That’s a clunky way to work in both cases, so at least now, fans of this longer script in Windows 11 can access it more easily using just a three-key combination. Although the fact that this change has arrived now is somewhat ironic, since after waiting so long for a better way to access the em dashboard on Microsoft’s operating system, it may not be wise to use this twist on scoring anyway. Why not? I’ll talk about that below.
Analysis: a hasty decision
In modern times, there is a reason why the em board has fallen out of favor, and that is a constant observation that AI-created content tends to use this particular spin on the board.
Personally, I use the trailing dash as well, when I should actually use the longer form, at least technically speaking, following the strict definition of dashes (although I’m not going to get into a punctuation lesson here). I feel like the em dash looks a little cumbersome and straightforward compared to the en variety, and literally drawn out, but anyway, I digress. The reason you shouldn’t use the em dash these days, in theory, is because people might think that everything you’ve written has been put together by AI.
As Windows Central points out, it seems true that ChatGPT and other AIs based on large language models seem to favor em dash more than human writers. It’s something we’ve also written about at TechRadar, so there’s reason to pause before adopting it for that reason in contemporary times. Not that human writers don’t use the script, of course, but still.
In any case, the wisdom of this dash decision aside, if you want to take the dash step, at least now you can type it in Windows 11 without having to press a button combination similar to some kind of console cheat code.
Meanwhile, on the Apple side of the desktop fence, Mac owners have been able to access the dashboard via a simple keyboard shortcut for years. And what is that shortcut? Funny you ask, but take Windows 11’s new three-key combination, then replace the Windows key with the Option key and there you have the macOS version (Option + Change + –).
The best mini PCs for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
