Bullet Point Symbols • ◆ ▸ ✦ — Copy and Paste

Let's be honest: the default bullet point is boring. That little round dot • has been doing its job since forever, and it does fine. But "fine" is not "good." When you're writing a LinkedIn post, putting together a resume, or building a slide deck, the right bullet symbol can take your content from looking like a rough draft to looking like a finished product.

I spend way too much time thinking about bullet points. That's just who I am now. And I'm going to share everything I've learned so you can pick the perfect one for whatever you're working on.

All Bullet Point Symbols — Copy and Paste

Round Bullets

• — Bullet (U+2022) — the standard one
● — Black Circle (U+25CF) — bigger, bolder
○ — White Circle (U+25CB) — outline version
◉ — Fisheye / Bullseye (U+25C9)
◎ — Bullseye (U+25CE)
⊙ — Circled Dot (U+2299)
⊚ — Circled Ring (U+229A)
◦ — White Bullet (U+25E6) — smaller outline

Diamond and Square Bullets

◆ — Black Diamond (U+25C6)
◇ — White Diamond (U+25C7)
◈ — Diamond with Dot (U+25C8)
■ — Black Square (U+25A0)
□ — White Square (U+25A1)
▪ — Small Black Square (U+25AA)
▫ — Small White Square (U+25AB)
▣ — Square with Rounded Corners (U+25A3)

Arrow Bullets

▸ — Small Right Triangle (U+25B8)
▹ — Small Right Triangle Outline (U+25B9)
► — Right Pointer (U+25BA)
▻ — Right Pointer Outline (U+25BB)
→ — Right Arrow (U+2192)
➜ — Heavy Right Arrow (U+279C)
➤ — Arrowhead (U+27A4)
‣ — Triangular Bullet (U+2023)
⟩ — Right Angle Bracket (U+27E9)

Check and Cross Bullets

✓ — Check Mark (U+2713)
✔ — Heavy Check Mark (U+2714)
✗ — Ballot X (U+2717)
✘ — Heavy Ballot X (U+2718)
☐ — Empty Checkbox (U+2610)
☑ — Checked Box (U+2611)
☒ — Crossed Box (U+2612)

Which Bullet Symbol Should You Use? It Depends.

Different situations call for different bullets. Here's my take after years of obsessing over formatting:

For LinkedIn Posts

LinkedIn doesn't support native bullet points in posts. So you need Unicode symbols. The most popular choices right now are:

✦ — the "LinkedIn star" (seriously, scroll your feed and count how many people use it)
▸ — clean, professional, directional
◆ — bold and confident
→ — great for action items

Personally, I switch between ✦ and ▸ depending on the tone of the post. A thought leadership piece gets ✦. A tactical how-to gets ▸. Don't overthink it, but don't just use dashes either.

For Resumes and Cover Letters

Stick with conservative options: • ▪ ◆ ▸. Your resume passes through applicant tracking systems (ATS), and weird symbols can cause parsing issues. The standard bullet • is safest. If you want to be slightly fancy, ▪ (small black square) is universally supported and looks sharp.

For Presentations (PowerPoint/Google Slides)

Go wild. Presentations are visual, so decorative bullets like ✦ ★ ◉ can add personality. Just make sure they're readable at small sizes — some symbols look great at 24pt but become blobs at 12pt.

For Social Media Bios

Anything goes, but readability matters. Common patterns:

✦ writer ✦ cat person ✦ coffee addict
◆ NYC | Design | Coffee
▸ Photography ▸ Travel ▸ Food

Check out our Instagram bio symbols guide for more ideas.

For Academic and Technical Documents

Keep it simple. • for main points, ○ or ◦ for sub-points. Academic style guides (APA, MLA, Chicago) generally expect standard bullets. Save the fancy stuff for less formal contexts.

How to Type Bullet Points

Windows

Alt + 7 → • (numpad)
Alt + 9 → ○
Alt + 254 → ■

Or just press Win + . and search "circle" or "diamond" in the emoji picker.

Mac

Option + 8 → •
For others, use Control + Command + Space to open the character viewer

Google Docs

Insert → Special Characters → search "bullet" or "diamond." Or just copy-paste from this page. Honestly, copy-paste is faster 90% of the time.

Bullet Points in HTML

For web developers:

• → •
▶ → ►
◆ → ◆
✦ → ✦

You can also customize list markers with CSS: list-style-type: disc | circle | square; for basic shapes, or use ::marker with the content property for custom symbols. The ::marker pseudo-element is well-supported in modern browsers now, so you don't need the old ::before hacks anymore.

Quick Copy Block — All Bullets

• ● ○ ◉ ◎ ◦ ◆ ◇ ◈ ■ □ ▪ ▫ ▸ ▹ ► ▻ → ➜ ➤ ‣ ✦ ✧ ★ ☆ ✿ ❖ ✓ ✔ ✗ ✘ ☐ ☑ ☒

A Few Formatting Tips

Be consistent. Pick one bullet style per list. Mixing ◆ and ★ and ▸ in the same list looks chaotic.
Add a space after the symbol. "◆Item" looks cramped. "◆ Item" looks intentional.
Test on mobile. What looks good on desktop might look weird on a phone. Always preview.
Match your tone. Stars and flowers for creative work, squares and arrows for business content.
Don't overdo it. A symbol at the start of each item is enough. You don't need borders, dividers, AND fancy bullets all at once.

Wrapping It Up

Bullet points seem like a small thing, but they're one of those details that separate polished content from "I wrote this in five minutes." The right symbol makes your text easier to scan, more visually appealing, and just a little bit more you.

For more symbols to use alongside your bullets, explore our arrows, stars, and hearts collections. And if you're formatting content for a specific platform, our guide on Unicode symbols for social media has platform-specific tips.