[WorldMaker]

I think Windows has a pretty decent emoji interface as of a couple feature releases back: Win+. or Win+; (the Windows key [or Super key if you prefer the Linux name] with either . or ; whichever feels more comfortable) brings up a palette that can be navigated via keyboard and/or searched by typing words (and/or clicked/tapped). Most recent feature update even added common kaomoji.

[dacoja]

Nice, didn't know about that! I have a PC desktop and a MacBook but lately my PC has been getting dusty, so I have to admit I'm not super familiar with the latest on Windows. Thanks for letting me know :)

[roboguy12]

Also, for the macOS users, there's a great emoji picker interface: cmd+ctrl+space brings up a very similar-sounding menu where you can search by typing, or scroll through and click the one you want.

[dacoja]

That's actually the one I was thinking of as being awkward to activate :) I love the picker itself but the activation method is pretty clunky in my opinion.

I wish I could just hit one key instead of having to simultaneously press three. I've been using Rocket for awhile now (https://matthewpalmer.net/rocket/) which kind of takes the Slack style ":emoji_name" format to the whole computer, but it's still kind of awkward to activate and has a lot of false positive triggers. (It really makes you realize how often you type colons in everyday computer usage.)