How to Type Special Characters on Mac

macOS is exceptionally well-equipped for typing special characters and Unicode symbols. Apple designed the Mac keyboard system with multilingual users in mind, layering several input methods on top of each other so that the right tool is always close at hand. This guide covers every method from the quick Option key shortcuts to the full Character Viewer with its 100,000+ Unicode characters.

Method 1: Option Key Combinations

The Option key (⌥) on your Mac keyboard is a direct gateway to dozens of special characters. Many key combinations are consistent across all US keyboards.

Common Option Key Shortcuts

Tip: These shortcuts are specific to the US keyboard layout. If you use a different layout (e.g., UK, German, French), the shortcuts differ. Open Keyboard Viewer (see Method 5) to discover the Option layer for your current layout.

Method 2: Press and Hold for Accent Menu

When you press and hold a letter key, macOS shows a small pop-up menu of accented variants of that letter. This is the quickest way to type accented characters for European languages.

How it works:

1. Click in any text field.
2. Press and hold a vowel or common accent-bearing letter (a, c, e, i, n, o, s, u, y, z).
3. A small menu appears above the cursor with accented variants numbered 1–n.
4. Press the corresponding number key, or click the character.
5. Alternatively, use the arrow keys to highlight the character and press Return.

Example: Holding "e" shows: è (1), é (2), ê (3), ë (4), ě (5), ē (6), ę (7), ė (8)

Letters with accent menus:

Note: Press-and-hold only works if Key Repeat is turned on. If your Mac types the same character repeatedly instead of showing the accent menu, the feature may have been disabled. Check in System Settings → Keyboard and ensure "Press and hold key to show accents" is available. (You can also re-enable via Terminal: defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true.)

Method 3: Character Viewer

The Character Viewer is macOS's built-in tool for browsing the complete Unicode character set — all 100,000+ characters organised by category.

Opening Character Viewer

Option A — Menu bar (recommended): 1. Go to System Settings → Keyboard. 2. Enable "Show Input menu in menu bar" (macOS Sonoma: "Show Keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar"). 3. Click the input menu icon in the menu bar → Show Character Viewer.

Option B — Keyboard shortcut: Press Control + Command + Space in any text field.

Option C — Edit menu: In many apps, choose Edit → Emoji & Symbols.

Navigating Character Viewer

The Character Viewer has a sidebar with categories on the left:

• Frequently Used — your recent picks
• Emoji — all emoji organised by category
• Arrows — directional symbols
• Bullets/Stars — decorative symbols
• Currency Symbols — ¥ € £ ₹ ...
• Letterlike Symbols — ℃ ℉ ™ ℗ ...
• Math Symbols — ∞ ∑ √ π ...
• Parentheses — ⟨ ⟩ 【 】 ...
• Pictographs — ♞ ♟ ♯ ✓ ...
• Technical Symbols — ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ ⌫ ...

Expanding to full Unicode view: Click the grid icon in the top-right corner of the Character Viewer to expand to the full view, which adds a complete Unicode browser with all 150+ script categories.

Inserting a Character

1. Find the character using the category sidebar, search box, or Unicode browser.
2. Double-click the character to insert it at the cursor position.
3. Or drag the character into a text field.

Searching by Name

Type in the search field to find characters by their Unicode name. For example: - "check" → ✓ ✔ ✅ ☑ - "arrow" → → ← ↑ ↓ ⇒ ⇐ ... - "snowflake" → ❄ ❅ ❆

Method 4: Option Key Dead Keys for Diacritics

Separate from press-and-hold, the Option key creates dead key combinations that let you type a specific diacritic and then follow it with a base letter.

Steps:

1. Press the dead key combination (e.g., ⌥ + e for acute).
2. Release both keys.
3. Type the base letter (e.g., a).
4. macOS combines them into the accented character (á).

If you type a letter that cannot combine with the diacritic (e.g., ⌥ + e then k), macOS types the diacritic character itself followed by k.

Method 5: Keyboard Viewer

The Keyboard Viewer shows a virtual keyboard on screen that updates in real time as you hold modifier keys, making it easy to discover all Option key combinations for your layout.

Opening Keyboard Viewer:

1. Enable it in System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → Show Input menu in menu bar.
2. Click the input menu in the menu bar → Show Keyboard Viewer.

Using Keyboard Viewer:

• Hold Option to see all characters accessible via Option key.
• Hold Option + Shift to see the second Option layer.
• Keys that are dead keys (diacritics) appear highlighted in orange.
• Click any key in the Keyboard Viewer to type it without pressing the physical key.

Method 6: Input Sources for Non-Latin Scripts

For typing in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, or any other non-Latin script, add the appropriate Input Source.

Adding an Input Source:

1. Go to System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources.
2. Click + to add a language.
3. Search for the script or language (e.g., "Japanese", "Arabic", "Chinese Simplified").
4. Select the input method variant and click Add.

Switching Input Sources:

• Press Control + Space (or Control + Option + Space on some setups) to cycle through installed sources.
• Or click the input menu icon in the menu bar to select directly.
• Or use Command + Space if Spotlight is not also mapped to that shortcut.

Method 7: Text Substitution (System-Wide)

macOS has a built-in text substitution feature that replaces short phrases with longer text or special characters across all apps.

Setting up substitutions:

1. Go to System Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacements.
2. Click + to add a new entry.
3. In Replace, type your shortcut (e.g., ->>).
4. In With, paste the character you want (e.g., →).
5. Click Add.

The substitution works in most native macOS apps (TextEdit, Mail, Notes, Pages, Safari address bar) and some third-party apps. It does not work in all apps — notably most code editors disable it.

Useful substitution ideas:

Quick Reference: Which Method to Use on Mac

macOS makes it faster to type special characters than any other desktop platform. Once you have the Option key shortcuts memorised and the Character Viewer in your menu bar, you will find that nearly any symbol is just a keystroke or two away.