I don't love the emoji picker built into macOS. I wish it was more like Slack's. Fortunately, a third-party app called Rocket can supply a similar experience. I find it's better than the system version in three key ways.

1. Invocation

The default keyboard shortcut for the native Emoji & Symbols is:

Ctrl + Command + Space, or ⌃ + ⌘ + ␣. I have a terrible time remembering it.

The globe key can be set to open it, but that only works on certain keyboards.

In Rocket, simply type :. This is also configurable. I changed it to :: to prevent accidental invocation.

2. Navigation

Emoji & Symbols uses a grid while Rocket uses a list. The list is navigable with just the up & down arrow keys, while the grid requires left & right as well. I prefer the up & down key workflow.

3. Selection

In Emoji & Symbols, when searching, no selection is made. One must either press the down arrow key or use a pointing device. In Rocket, the best search result is automatically selected.

Both support entering the selected symbol via Enter or click.

Closing Notes

Of course, I install Rocket using Homebrew, https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/rocket#default.

I like Rocket a lot, and maybe you will too.