SOLVED: How To Start & Use the Windows Emoji Icon Keyboard

Microsoft has been working hard to bring Windows features to cell phones and cell phone features to Windows.  One of those cool improvements is the Windows emoji keyboard.

This little known function in Windows 10 allows you to just click to add your favorite icons to ANY text window.  The Emoji keyboard works everywhere from  Word and Excel to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.

So, how do you see and use the emoji keyboard?  Easy, just press (and hold) the Windows Key and then press the period.  Like this:

There are a three features of the Windows emoji keyboard that are easy to miss but super-helpful:

1. if you start typing while the emoji keyboard is up it will search through all the emojis to find possible matches
2. the scroll bar on the right autohides so it is easy to miss.  Move your mouse to the right side of the emoji keyboard and the scroll bar will pop up so you can scroll down and see many more items
3. you can select Emojis, Kaomojies, or Symbols by selecting the different icons along the top of the emoji keyboard.

In case you are wondering,  kaomojis are Japanese emoticonhttps://www.jemoticons.com/en/dance/s.