The basic steps

Find the emoji you want, whether from your device's built-in picker or an online emoji keyboard, and click or tap it to copy it to your clipboard. Then click into the text field where you want it — a chat box, a document, a search bar — and paste using Ctrl + V on Windows, Command + V on Mac, or a long-press and Paste on mobile.

Copying more than one emoji at once

If you want several emojis together, build them up first rather than pasting one at a time. On this site, clicking an emoji both copies it individually and adds it to the text bar at the top, so you can keep clicking to build a longer string, then press Copy All to grab the whole thing in a single clipboard action.

Why an emoji sometimes shows as a box or question mark

Newer emojis occasionally show up as an empty box, a question mark, or the wrong image on an older device or operating system that hasn't been updated to support that emoji yet. This isn't a copying problem — the emoji copied correctly, but the receiving app or device doesn't have the font data to display it. Updating the operating system usually resolves it.

Pasting into apps that block formatting

A few plain-text-only fields, like some command-line tools or certain form fields, may strip emojis on paste. If an emoji disappears after pasting, try pasting into a plain text editor first to confirm it copied, then retype it manually into the restrictive field if needed.