Emoji have managed to find their way into just about every aspect of our online lives these days — but the other day, a question occurred to me that I had never before thought to wonder about: Can you use emoji in Google Drive? I mean, we (obviously) know we can use them in Gchat; we even know that there are a whole bunch of secret Gchat emoji you can only access by typing in the correct sequence of letters and symbols. But Google Drive? That's a whole 'nother story.
In order to get to the bottom of the mystery, I performed a bit of experimentation. My conclusion? Yes! It is, in fact, possible to use emoji in Google Drive! And what's more, it's actually quite simple. There's only one catch: They're not going to look the way you're used to them looking. They're black and white, rather than in full color, and they don't wink, smile, or perform any other animated actions; furthermore, not all of the emoji available in Gchat are support in Drive.
But those are small quibbles for the ability to hide the “Bitch Please” emoji somewhere in the depths of my next Google Doc. Here's how you can harness the powers of Google Drive emoji yourself:
1. Go to “Insert” and select “Special Characters.”
Once you click “Special Characters,” which I have denoted with a big, red arrow, a menu like this should pop up:
2. Click “Symbol” and select “Emoji.”
You may have to scroll up or down to find it, but it's there — I promise. Once you've done that, you should be looking at the following menu:
Here's where you'll need to be a little mindful, though. Those weird rectangles towards the bottom of the menu? Mousing over them will tell you what they should be…
...But Drive apparently doesn't support them, so you won't be able to insert them into your document. Or, well, you can, but they'll look like the aforementioned weird rectangles. Sorry.
3. Click on “People and Emotions” to select your emoji subset.
All the standard categories are available, as you can see here. Pro tip: If you know the name of your emoji, you can also bypass the whole “select your subset” dance by typing the name of it into the “search by keyword” box on the right hand side of the menu.
4. Select your desired emoji.
All you need to do is click on the emoji once and it will appear in your document. Be warned, though—the menu doesn't close after you click it, so it's easy to fall into the, “Did it work? I'll just click it a few more times” trap and end up with 10 of the same emoji in the middle of your doc. Just sayin'.
There it is! Applause all round!
Most of the little pictographs you know and love should be there, with a few occasional differences: The woman with bunny ears, minus her twin; the eggplant, although it's called an aubergine here; those eight million clocks no one ever has any use for; the party popper; and more. They're not exactly racially diverse, since they're depicted in grayscale, but there are at least representations of non-heterosexual couples.
There are even a few I've never encountered before, like the "Japanese Ogre" emoji, the "Japanese Goblin" emoji, and — do my eyes decieve me? — a Moyai head.
That's right — you can build Easter Island entirely out of emoji in Google Drive.
...I think I'm done here.
So there you have it — step-by-step instructions for how to use emoji in Google Drive, just in case you want to pepper the next document you share with weird little pictures. Use your newfound powers well, my friends. Now go forth and emoji.
Images: Emojipedia; Lucia Peters (11)
