How to Type Special Characters on Mac
The Complete 2026 Guide
Four methods for typing any special character on a Mac — the Option key shortcuts most people never discover, the built-in Character Viewer, hold-key accents, and text replacement. Covers every common symbol: °, ©, €, —, ≠, π, ∞, and more.
Method 1 — Option Key Shortcuts (The Fastest Method)
The Option key (⌥) on a Mac is a hidden character map built into your keyboard. Pressing Option + a letter or symbol key types a special character directly — no menus, no searching. Most Mac users never discover these.
Adding ⇧ Shift to any Option shortcut often gives a different character. So each key effectively has four layers: normal, Shift, Option, and Option+Shift.
| Symbol | Name | Mac shortcut | Use case | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| © | Copyright | ⌥ G | Copyright notices, creative work | |
| ™ | Trademark | ⌥ 2 | Brand and product names | |
| ® | Registered | ⌥ R | Registered trademarks | |
| ° | Degree | ⌥ ⇧ 8 | Temperature, angles, coordinates | |
| € | Euro | ⌥ ⇧ 2 | Prices in euros | |
| £ | Pound sterling | ⌥ 3 | UK prices | |
| ¥ | Yen / Yuan | ⌥ Y | Japanese and Chinese currency | |
| ¢ | Cent | ⌥ 4 | Cent amounts | |
| — | Em dash | ⌥ ⇧ – | Strong pause — in writing | |
| – | En dash | ⌥ – | Ranges: 1–10, Jan–Mar | |
| … | Ellipsis | ⌥ ; | Trailing thoughts… | |
| • | Bullet | ⌥ 8 | Lists and separators | |
| ∞ | Infinity | ⌥ 5 | Maths, bios, tattoo designs | |
| ≠ | Not equal | ⌥ = | Maths and code comments | |
| ≤ | Less than or equal | ⌥ , | Inequalities in maths | |
| ≥ | Greater than or equal | ⌥ . | Inequalities in maths | |
| π | Pi | ⌥ P | Circle constant in maths | |
| √ | Square root | ⌥ V | Maths expressions | |
| ∑ | Summation | ⌥ W | Sum notation in maths | |
| Ω | Omega / Ohm | ⌥ Z | Ohm (electrical resistance) | |
| ¿ | Inverted ? | ⌥ ⇧ / | Spanish punctuation | |
| ¡ | Inverted ! | ⌥ 1 | Spanish punctuation | |
| § | Section sign | ⌥ 6 | Legal and academic writing | |
| ¶ | Paragraph mark | ⌥ 7 | Typography and editing | |
| † | Dagger | ⌥ T | Footnote marker | |
| ‰ | Per mille | ⌥ ⇧ R | Parts per thousand | |
| ÷ | Division | ⌥ / | Maths division symbol | |
| « | Left guillemet | ⌥ \ | French quotation marks | |
| » | Right guillemet | ⌥ ⇧ \ | French quotation marks |
Method 2 — Character Viewer (Browse & Search All Symbols)
Mac’s built-in Character Viewer lets you browse, search, and insert any Unicode character without memorising shortcuts. It’s the most comprehensive method — covers every symbol, emoji, accented letter, and character in existence.
- Keyboard shortcut: Press ⌃ Control + ⌘ Command + Space — the fastest method, works in any app
- Edit menu: In most apps, click Edit in the menu bar → Emoji & Symbols
- Input menu: If you have the Input menu in your menu bar, click it → Show Emoji & Symbols
- Press ⌃+⌘+Space to open the panel
- Type the symbol name in the search bar — “degree,” “copyright,” “arrow,” “check mark,” “pi”
- Or browse by category — Mathematical Symbols, Punctuation, Currency Symbols, etc.
- Double-click any character to insert it at your cursor position
- Or drag it into any document or text field
- Click the expand icon (top right of the panel) to see a full-screen Character Viewer with more categories
Method 3 — Hold Any Key for Accent Marks
On a Mac, holding almost any letter key for about half a second shows a popup of accented variants — the same behaviour as iPhone. This is the fastest way to type accented characters for French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and other European languages.
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true then press Enter and restart your Mac. This setting is sometimes turned off for gaming or productivity purposes.Method 4 — Text Replacement (Best for Frequent Symbols)
Mac’s Text Replacement system converts short codes into any character automatically — as you type. Set it up once, and it works across every Mac app including Pages, Word, Safari, Mail, Notes, and Slack.
- Open System Settings (Apple menu → System Settings)
- Click Keyboard → Text Replacements
- Click + to add a new entry
- In Replace, type your shortcut: deg
- In With, type the symbol: °
- Press Add — now typing “deg” + Space types ° automatically
| Type this shortcut | Gets replaced with | Why useful |
|---|---|---|
| deg | ° | Degree symbol — faster than ⌥⇧8 |
| cpyr | © | Copyright — for documents and captions |
| tm | ™ | Trademark — for brand writing |
| emdash | — | Em dash — for formal writing |
| inf | ∞ | Infinity symbol |
| arr | → | Right arrow for bios and lists |
| chk | ✓ | Check mark for lists |
| neq | ≠ | Not equal sign for maths |
Specific Symbols — Exactly How to Type Each One on Mac
Degree symbol ° on Mac
Press ⌥ Option + ⇧ Shift + 8 — types ° directly. Or open Character Viewer (⌃ Ctrl+⌘+Space) and search “degree.” Or set up text replacement: “deg” → °.
Copyright symbol © on Mac
Press ⌥ Option + G — types © directly. This is one of the easiest Mac shortcuts to remember — G for “copyright” (as in the circled ©).
Em dash — on Mac
Press ⌥ Option + ⇧ Shift + - (hyphen key) — types — directly. For en dash –, use ⌥ Option + - alone. Mac also auto-converts two hyphens (–) to an em dash in Pages and most text editors.
Euro sign € on Mac
Press ⌥ Option + ⇧ Shift + 2 — types € directly on US keyboard. On UK Mac keyboards, the shortcut is ⌥ Option + 2.
Pi symbol π on Mac
Press ⌥ Option + P — types π directly. One of the most satisfying Mac shortcuts to discover. For the uppercase Π, use ⌥ Option + ⇧ Shift + P.
FAQ
What is the fastest way to type special characters on a Mac? Option key shortcuts are the fastest for common symbols you use regularly — no menus, instant output. For symbols you use occasionally, the Character Viewer (⌃+⌘+Space) lets you search by name. For one-off symbols you need right now, copy from a symbol library.
How do I open the emoji keyboard on a Mac? Press ⌃ Control + ⌘ Command + Space — this opens the Emoji & Symbols panel (the same as Character Viewer). You can search emoji by name, browse categories, and double-click to insert. On newer Macs with a Touch Bar, the emoji key may also appear on the Touch Bar when a text field is active.
How do I type the degree symbol on a Mac? Press ⌥ Option + ⇧ Shift + 8 — this types ° directly. Alternatively, open Character Viewer and search “degree.”
Why isn’t the hold-key accent popup appearing on my Mac? The feature may be disabled. Open Terminal, type defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true, press Enter, and restart. This re-enables the hold-key accent popup system-wide.
Do Mac special character shortcuts work in all apps? Option key shortcuts work in virtually every Mac app that accepts text input — Pages, Word, TextEdit, Safari address bar, Mail, Slack, Notes, and all other standard Mac apps. The Character Viewer works everywhere a cursor is active. Some web apps running in a browser may occasionally intercept keyboard shortcuts — if an Option shortcut doesn’t work, use the Character Viewer instead.