How to Type š (S with caron) on Excel

Published July 22, 2026, 2 min read

The letter š does not have its own key on an English keyboard, but Excel still makes it easy to type. Use =UNICHAR(353), or pick one of the other methods in this guide. š appears in Czech, Slovak, Finnish and Croatian.

š on Excel: =UNICHAR(353)

Š on Excel: =UNICHAR(352)

Or copy it:

Method 1: UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(353) in a cell to get š. To check a letter, =UNICODE("š") returns 353. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Method 2: CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(154) also returns š on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

Method 3: Keyboard methods inside a cell

Double-click the cell, then use Alt+0154 on Windows or Unicode Hex Input (Option + 0161) on a Mac.

Method 4: Find and replace accented text

Use =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"š","s") to strip this accent from a column, for example when cleaning names for an email system that does not accept accents.

How to type the capital Š

The uppercase form works the same way with Shift added where a letter is typed.

UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(352) in a cell to get Š. To check a letter, =UNICODE("Š") returns 352. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(138) also returns Š on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

About the letter š

š is Unicode U+0161, named LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CARON. It is used in Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Croatian, Slovenian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian. A small v above a letter, called háček in Czech and kvačica in Croatian. It softens consonants (č, š, ž, ř) and marks the third tone in Pinyin (ǎ, ǐ). See the š character page for every code and shortcut.

Troubleshooting

UNICHAR is not available in Excel 2010 and earlier.
CSV files saved as plain "CSV" may lose accents. Save as "CSV UTF-8".
If accents show as question marks after import, set the file origin to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) in the import wizard.

Frequently asked questions

What is the shortcut for š on Excel?

=UNICHAR(353).

Can I just copy and paste š?

Yes. Click the copy button above, then paste with Ctrl+V on Windows and Chromebook, Cmd+V on a Mac, or touch and hold and choose Paste on a phone.

What is the Unicode code for š?

U+0161. In HTML it is &scaron;.

Related guides

All accent shortcuts for Excel