FAQ - How to Type Trademark Symbol (™) on Any Device | Quick Guide

Q: What is the HTML entity for the trademark symbol?

Use ™ (named entity) or ™ (decimal numeric entity) or ™ (hex numeric entity) — all three render as ™ in every modern browser. Named entities are the most readable in source code; numeric entities are the safest fallback if your file encoding is unclear. In React JSX, you can use the literal '™' character directly in UTF-8 source files, or use the JavaScript escape '\u2122' inside string literals.

Question 1

What is the keyboard shortcut to type ™ on Windows?

Accepted Answer

Hold Alt and type 0153 on the numeric keypad with NumLock on — release Alt and ™ appears. This is the official method documented by Microsoft Support. The numeric keypad is required; the number row above the letters does not work for Alt codes. On laptops without a numeric keypad, use the Windows emoji panel: press Win+. (period) and search 'trademark', or in Word/Outlook type 2122 then press Alt+X to convert the hex code to the character.

Question 2

What is the keyboard shortcut to type ™ on Mac?

Accepted Answer

Press Option+2 on the standard U.S. English keyboard layout. On non-US layouts (UK, French, German, etc.), Option+2 produces a different character — in that case, use the Character Viewer instead: press Fn+E (or Control+Cmd+Space) to open it, type 'trademark' in the search field, then double-click ™ to insert. You can also access it from any text app's menu bar via Edit > Emoji & Symbols, per the official Apple Mac User Guide.

Question 3

How do I type ™ on iPhone or Android?

Accepted Answer

Neither iOS nor Android exposes ™ on the default English keyboard. The reliable method is Text Replacement: on iPhone, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement, tap +, set Phrase to ™ and Shortcut to 'tm'. On Android with Gboard, open Gboard Settings > Dictionary > Personal Dictionary > English, add ™ with shortcut 'tm'. After setup, typing 'tm' in any app will suggest ™ as a one-tap replacement. Alternatively, copy ™ from this page and paste into your destination.

Question 4

What is the HTML entity for the trademark symbol?

Accepted Answer

Use &trade; (named entity) or &#8482; (decimal numeric entity) or &#x2122; (hex numeric entity) — all three render as ™ in every modern browser. Named entities are the most readable in source code; numeric entities are the safest fallback if your file encoding is unclear. In React JSX, you can use the literal '™' character directly in UTF-8 source files, or use the JavaScript escape '\u2122' inside string literals.

Question 5

What is the difference between typing ™ and ®, and when should I use each?

Accepted Answer

Per USPTO official guidance (TMEP §906.02), ™ can be used at any time to claim common-law trademark rights — no government registration required. ® can only be used after a federal trademark registration has been officially granted by the USPTO. Using ® before registration is improper and can result in fines or loss of the right to register. Until your federal registration certificate arrives, use ™. Once granted, switch to ®. The Unicode codepoint for ® is U+00AE (Alt+0174 on Windows, Option+R on Mac); for ™ it is U+2122 (Alt+0153 on Windows, Option+2 on Mac).

Question 6

Why does (tm) auto-convert to ™ in Word but not in Slack or Notion?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Word, Outlook, Google Docs, and Apple Pages all ship with a built-in AutoCorrect rule that converts (tm) to ™ on the next keystroke. Slack, Notion, Discord, and most chat/note apps do not include this substitution by default — they treat (tm) as literal text. To get the same auto-conversion in those apps, set up Text Replacement at the OS level: System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements on macOS, or Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement on iOS. The OS-level rule then applies in every app that uses the system keyboard.

Question 7

Does ™ display the same on every device and browser?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with one caveat. ™ is in the Letterlike Symbols Unicode block (added in Unicode 1.1, 1993) and is part of the WGL4 base font set required by Windows since XP and supported natively on every macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, and modern Linux release. The exact glyph design (slightly different proportions, weight, and superscript baseline) varies between system fonts, but the character is always recognizable as ™. The only environments where ™ may fail are legacy ASCII-only systems (some SMS gateways, old printer firmware, some mainframe terminals) — in those cases, fall back to the substitute (TM).

How to Type Trademark Symbol (™) on Any Device | Quick Guide

Symbol Reference16

Trade Mark Sign (U+2122)

Registered Sign (U+00AE)

Service Mark (U+2120)

Copyright Sign (U+00A9)

Sound Recording Copyright (U+2117)

ASCII trademark substitute

ASCII registered substitute

ASCII service mark substitute

ASCII copyright substitute

Phonetic Extensions superscript TM (U+1D40 U+1D39)

Plain letters TM

Circled Latin Capital Letter R (U+24C7)

Circled Latin Capital Letter C (U+24B8)

Circled Latin Capital Letter M (U+24C2)

Raised MC Sign — Canadian French marque de commerce (U+1F16A)

Circled WZ — German Warenzeichen (U+1F12E)

💡Pro Tips

🔧How to Use

🪟How to Type ™ on Windows

❓Frequently Asked Questions - How to Type Trademark Symbol