Emoji Panel lets you use emojis in any application on Windows 11/10. It is a built-in feature that is used by so many around the world. It is usually opened by pressing Win+. or Win+; on the keyboard. The Emoji Panel appears as a small box with all the emojis we regularly use on phones.
There are complaints from many users that they can’t access or see the emoji panel using the keyboard shortcuts. Sometimes, restarting the PC might fix the issue but there are situations where the emoji panel does not appear even after restarting the computer. In this tutorial, we show you fixes that would let you use the emoji panel normally. Let’s see what they are.
Emoji Panel not working in any App on Windows 11/10
The possible fixes that can show you the emoji panel on pressing the keyboard shortcuts are:
- Check for Windows Updates
- Change Region and Display Language
- Run CTFMon.exe
- Enable the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service
- Edit the Registry Settings
Let’s deep dive into each method and know, how to do them.
1] Check for Windows Updates
Now I know – Windows 10 is updated at all times – but in case you have configured Windows Updates differently, then manually checking for any pending Windows Updates is one of the most common fixes for problems on Windows 10. With each update, Microsoft improves a lot on Windows 10. Make sure you are up to date with the new updates.
To check Windows 10 updates, press Win+I on your keyboard to access Settings. Then select Update & Security in the Settings window. Now, click on the Check for updates button.
It will check for the latest updates and show you if any. Install them. Your emoji panel might work fine. If this method does not work, try the next one.
Read: How to use Special Characters and Letters in Windows 10.
2] Change Region and Display Language
During the initial days of the Emoji panel’s introduction on Windows 10, it is only available for people with United States EN as the keyboard input language. This has changed with the recent updates and it can be used with any keyboard input method. There may be some errors that are making the emoji panel unaccessible. Changing the region to the United States and display the language to English (United States), if you are using another region/language might fix the issue.
To change the country and display language, open the Settings application and select Time & Language section.
In the Time and Language section, click on Region on the left sidebar.
In the Region window, click on the drop-down beside under Country or region and select the United States.
Now, go back to Time and Language window and select Language from the left sidebar. In the Language window, change the language under Windows Display Langauge to English (United States)
This should fix the error and the emoji panel should work fine. If not, try the next method.
Read: How to insert an Emoji or Symbol in the Email Subject Line or Body.
3] Run CTFMon.exe
When CTFMon.exe stops running on Windows 10, the keyboard shortcuts for the emoji panel too stop working. Running CTFMon.exe might help you use the emoji panel as usually with the keyboard shortcuts.
To run CTFMon.exe, press Win+R on the keyboard and launch the Run command. Then, enter the following path and press Enter.
C:\Windows\System32\ctfmon.exe
It runs the CTFMon.exe which will let you use the emoji panel normally.
If it does not run, re-register these two related DLL files and see.
Press Win+R to open the Run window. Type the following commands one by one to unregister the DLL files, and press Enter after each of them:
regsvr32.exe /u msimtf.dll
regsvr32.exe /u msctf.dll
regsvr32.exe msimtf.dll
regsvr32.exe msctf.dll
Restart the system once the commands have executed and see.
4] Enable Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service
There are chances that the emoji panel might stop working if the touch keyboard and handwriting panel service are not running. If you enable it, the emoji panel shall work fine.
To enable it, open the Run command by pressing Win+R on the keyboard and enter services.msc in the text box and press Enter.
It will open the Service window. Go through the numerous list of services and select Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service. Right-click on it and select Properties.
In the Properties dialog box, change the Startup type to Automatic using the drop-down menu button.
Then save the changes and restart your PC. This should fix the error with the emoji panel. If not, try the following method.
Read: How to use Emojis in Windows 10
5] Edit the Registry Settings
The last method to fix the issue with the emoji panel is by editing the registry settings. To edit registry settings, open the Run command using the keyboard shortcut and type regedit.exe, and press Enter.
It will open a Registry Editor window. Navigate or copy/paste the following path.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Input\Settings
You will see a lot of registry entries in the path. Right-click on the white space in the registry list area to see the New option.
Then select, DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it EnableExpressiveInputShellHotkey.
Right-click on the newly created DWORD registry and change value data to 1. Then, close the registry editor and restart your PC. Your issue with the emoji panel might have fixed by now.
If you find this tutorial helpful, share it with your friends. Do mention your doubts and suggestions in the comments section below.
