Insert an Arrow in a Cell in Excel

Last Updated: June 22, 2023
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- Written by Puneet

Sometimes you need some symbols to use as a quick indicator within the Excel data and for this Excel has the option to insert an arrow and many other predefined symbols or shapes within the cells.

It is a quick process with only three or four steps to insert an arrow and other symbols in Excel.

Insert an Arrow in a cell as Symbol

  1. First, select and edit the cell in which you want to insert an arrow as a symbol.
  2. After that go to the “Insert” tab and then click on the “Symbols” icon on the ribbon and click on the “Symbol” option.
    insert-an-arrow-as-symbol
  3. Once you click on the “Symbol” option, it will display a pop-up with multiple symbols options to choose from.
  4. Now, select an arrow that you want to insert in the selected cell and click “Insert” and then “close”.
    select-an-arrow
  5. At this point, the selected arrow is inserted in the selected cell.
    arrow-symbol-in-excel

You can select and insert multiple arrows and symbol options in one cell, but you cannot insert the symbol in more than one cell in one go.

For this, you need to insert the symbol in a single cell and then can copy that symbol from the cell and paste it to multiple cells.

Insert an Arrow in a Cell as Shape

  1. First, go to the “Insert” tab and then click on the “Illustrations” icon on the ribbon and click on the “Shapes” option.
    insert-an-arrow-as-a-shape
  2. Once you click on the “Shapes” option, it will display multiple shape types with multiple arrow shapes.
    multiple-arrow-shapes
  3. Now click an arrow, which you want to insert and with the help of the mouse cursor go anywhere in the sheet and click hold the mouse button and drag the arrow where it is required.
  4. At this point, the selected arrow as a shape is inserted in the cell.
  5. From the “shape Format” tab under the “Shape Styles” group, you can change the arrow’s color, size, and effect.
    format-arrow-shape

Insert Upward and Downward Arrow Using Conditional Formatting

  1. First, select the cells where you need to insert the upward and downward arrows and then click on the “Conditional Formatting” icon in the ribbon.
    insert-upward-downward-arrows
  2. Now select the “Icon Sets” and then click on the arrows you want to insert.
  3. At this point, upward and downward  “Red, Yellow, and Green” arrows are inserted in the selected cells.
    select-colored-arrows

Insert an Arrow Using the Wingdings 3 Font

To insert an arrow using the wingdings 3 font, you need to have a list of characters that can be converted to an arrow and other symbols within Excel.

  1. First, enter the character in the cell where you need to insert an arrow.
    characters-for-arrows
  2. After that, go to the “Font” group in the ribbon and click on the font drop-down icon and select the “Wingdings 3” font.
    convert-character-into-arrow
  3. At this point, your character is converted to an arrow symbol based on the character which you had entered in the cell.
    convert-character-into-arrow

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