Emoji & Symbols Table not showing in Xcode (macOS Sequoia 15.6.1)

There are a few different ways to display that window.

Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > Input Sources > Edit and make sure "Show Input in menu bar" is enabled. That will add a Keyboard item to the menubar which includes a menu item for Emoji & Symbols.

In System Settings > Keyboard you can also configure the 🌐 button to display Emoji & Symbols.

On my older keyboard, I don't have a 🌐 button so the "fn" button does this. Since it's right next to both delete keys, I can confirm that it never fails to register a keystroke.

I didn't ever know that Xcode had a menu item for this. That's probably the one place I would never use it.

Matti Haveri wrote:

ctrl-cmd-space and fn-E work, but somehow neither works if LibreOffice is the frontmost app. ctrl-space to change Keyboard works there, though.

Check whether LibreOffice has its own local definition for that chord.

rue_des_Biches wrote:

Thanks for the advices but in fact when it does not show up on the Xcode menu, all other commands are ineffective as well.

Then it sounds like this problem has nothing to do with Emoji & Symbols. Have you confirmed that Xcode hasn't simply lost its mind for some reason? Just the other day, on my computer, Xcode lost its mind and used 35 GB of RAM, and I only have 16 on that computer. How much free (not "available") storage do you have?

The other point with shortcuts is that you have to remember them, with all other things you have to keep in mind especially as a developer !

I agree with you on that, but I'm usually in the minority there. Most people seem to love shortcuts. The more fingers required - the better!

So if there is a menu item for that I would consider normal that you can use it when you need it. Sorry if I seem to be a little bit angry !

You're using Xcode, which is not the most reliable app. The Emoji & Symbols display is a system service. So even if Xcode has lost its mind, you should still be able to access Emoji & Symbols using the menubar item. Specifically, I'm talking about the menubar items over the right of the menu bar, not Xcode's menu bar.

What are you even using Emoji & Symbols for in Xcode anyway? I wouldn't recommend that. Xcode's text editors can handle the Unicode. But there's no guarantee that any processes downstream, like compilers, git services, etc. will be able to handle those characters. Only my documentation and localization has any non-ASCII characters. The localization processes can handle them and my documentation engine is specially designed to handle them.

But otherwise, any Unicode symbols are font-specific. They might not display to the user the way you expect them to. And the symbology itself is copyrighted, so you may not be able to even display any image that contains emoji in marketing materials. SF Symbols are different. Those are designed specifically for this kind of use. But emojis are risky.

MrHoffman wrote:

I’ve been using Command–Control-Space

Thanks for the tip. I have used the Input menu to access Emoji & Symbols (and Unicode Hex Input).

ctrl-cmd-space and fn-E work, but somehow neither works if LibreOffice is the frontmost app. ctrl-space to change Keyboard works there, though.

I’ve been using Command–Control-Space for aeons. Does that also (not?) work here?

Here is the Xcode forum: Xcode | Apple Developer Forums

As was suggested above, update macOS to 15.7.3 or to 26.2, and update Xcode to 26.2, and test again, too.

If not yet solved, check this earlier discussion

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255779451?sortBy=oldest_first

rue_des_Biches wrote:

Following den.thed advice, I upgraded to Tahoe 26.2. So I had to restart anyway. I'll update the conversation after a while if the problem is solved ! Thanks for your time.

Update Xcode, too.

You need to update your MBP to Sequoia 15.7.3

What's new in the updates for macOS Sequoia - Apple Support

Or optionally Upgrade to Tahoe 26.2 if compatible.

What's new in the updates for macOS Tahoe - Apple Support