You don’t need to change to math mode every time you want to type a greek letter in normal text. Loading the textgreek package allows typesetting greek letters, generally just by adding a text-prefix to the letter name, e.g. for 
\usepackage{textgreek}
...
\textDelta\textbeta
The letters will adapt to the font style you are using (bold, italics, small capitals, etc.)
Furthermore, the author provides three different font types, cbgreek (default), euler, and artemisia. The font type can be change through the optional argument, when loading the package:
\usepackage[euler]{textgreek}
The differences are minor for most letters, check the documentation for details.
Complete command list (copied from the documentation):
Commands for greek letters in normal text.
Note, 
textcomp package already provided a command textmu, the author decided to call it textmugreek instead. Use the latter to avoid unexpected results.
March 15th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
For better results with greek *language* use babel or xetex. The greek letters in math mode are just symbols (no stresses or accents in a straightforward way)
Good tip however
March 15th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Thank you for the comment. I agree, writing a text with these commands would be a pain. Best, Tom.
March 15th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
It’s good to know, however. Thanks, Tom!
March 15th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
What’s the difference with using
\ensuremath{\alpha}…Any way, what’s the problem with typing
$\beta$everytime ?March 19th, 2012 at 11:14 am
Hi there,
The main advantage probably is that you don’t have to worry about font style (e.g. bold), it works just like for normal text. Also, the letters are not in italics by default. Other than that, I think you are right, it’s a personal choice whether you prefer switching to math mode or using the
textgreekpackage.By the way, for bold symbols in math mode use:
\usepackage{bm} ... $\boldsymbol{\beta}$Ensuremathhas it’s own problems (see here for a discussion), but is also a valid choice in most cases.Best, Tom.
March 15th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Great guide! I will use it from now on! But…
I am having trouble using this with
\usepackage[sc]{mathpazo}that I put to use the Palatino font.Greek letters (e.g.,
\textbeta)(1) look ugly and pixelated (when zoomed in)
(2) are not modified by
\textbfand such(3) are not similar to the Palatino font
If I remove the mathpazo package everything works (but I get the standard LaTeX font).
Does anyone know a workaround for this? I know (3) is not the packages fault, but I would love to have upright greek fonts Palatino-like.
Thanks
April 2nd, 2012 at 2:58 pm
If you are keen, you can try customizing
\textgreekfontmap. See the package documentation for more information. Best, Tom.May 22nd, 2012 at 8:43 am
Thanks Tom!
July 21st, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Was wondering a long time, whether this would be possible. Thanks!
Noticed, that the optional package is named “artemisia”, not “anthemisia” like written above.
July 22nd, 2012 at 7:22 am
Corrected, many thanks!