An asterisk, a paragraph, a plus sign, a hyphenated letter, or a square meter. As long as you don't need to type them, you don't care where they are on the keyboard. But on a Mac, finding some special characters after switching from Windows quite annoying. You often don't see them on the keys and a combination you know from another computer may not work. The most important thing to know is that a large part of the special characters on the Mac depend on the currently selected keyboard layout. Therefore, they can be written differently on the Czech layout and differently on the American one, for example. If you need a character immediately and don't know the shortcut, macOS also offers Prokeyboard viewer and Procharacter viewer, so you don't have to carry all the combinations in your head.
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How to type an asterisk on a Mac
Star * are among the characters that people use relatively often – for example, in passwords, when working with text, in spreadsheets or when programming. The exact combination may vary depending on the active keyboard layout, so it is best to follow the layout set in macOS, not just what is physically printed on the keys. If you are not sure, open Prokeyboard viewer and hold Shift, eventual Option or a combination Option+Shift. macOS will show you directly on the screen what characters are hidden under each key. This also eliminates the problem when you have, for example, a Czech physical keyboard, but a different layout is currently active in the system.
How to write a paragraph § on Mac
Paragraph sign § is especially useful when working with legal texts, contracts or official documents. Unlike regular letters, it may not be visible on the keyboard at first glance and its location depends on the input source used. If you don't type it often, there is little point in learning a specific abbreviation by heart. The fastest way is to display Prokeyboard viewer and use the Shift and Option keys to see where § is located on your current layout. Apple This is the procedure recommended for searching for symbols and other alternative characters.
How to write plus + and other mathematical symbols
Plus sign + is one of the easier cases, because on most layouts you can find it directly on the keyboard or call it up using Shift. However, for other mathematical symbols – such as ±, ≠, ≤ or ≥ – the situation is less clear. This is where the Option key starts to make a lot of sense. On the Mac, Option does not just function as a system modifier key. It opens up another layer of characters for typing. When you open ProIf you open the keyboard viewer and hold down Option, you'll immediately see how each key changes. If you add Shift at the same time, you'll see another set of symbols. Apple This method is directly recommended as the easiest way to find out what can be written on a particular layout.
How to write a pronounced u, ö or other letter with an accent
For letters with accents, macOS offers a very convenient way that often doesn't require knowing the abbreviation at all. Just hold down the letter in question for a moment. A menu of available options will appear above the character. variant and select the desired letter by clicking or pressing the corresponding number. For example, if you need to write ü, hold down the key u and select the desired one from the menu variantu. The same principle works for many other letters. In some applications or when typing more frequently, you can instead use the so-called dead keys, i.e. the combination of Option with another key and the following letter. Apple both methods are supported directly in macOS.
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How to write square meter m²
Writing a square meter can be confusing because the symbol ² is not something you would use every day on a regular Czech keyboard. There are two ways to solve the problem. In applications that support superscript, you can type the regular number 2 and then format it as superscript. The other option is to insert the ² symbol directly via Procharacter viewer. Just ProThe Character Viewer is often more convenient for less common symbols than searching for a keyboard shortcut. Open it from the emoji and symbols menu, search for the character you want, and insert it into your text. macOS has this feature specifically for symbols that don't normally fit on a physical keyboard.
When a shortcut doesn't work, you almost always check your keyboard layout
This is something that is often forgotten in tutorials for special characters. The keyboard shortcut may be technically correct, but if you are using a different keyboard layout than the tutorial author, a different character will appear. Czech, ABC, American English, and other input sources have their own key mappings. You can check the current layout via the Input menu in the macOS top bar. If you are using multiple languages, you can also quickly switch between them. Apple Please note that the currently selected layout determines which characters will actually appear when you press each key.
If you use special characters frequently, I recommend turning on Prokeyboard viewer. It's a simple tool that displays a virtual representation of the current keyboard layout right on your screen. When you press Shift, Option, or both keys at the same time, you can see in real time what symbols are available under each key. You can turn it on via System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input, where you can activate the input source menu in the menu bar. From there, open Prokeyboard viewer. It's much faster than searching Google every time for "how to type an asterisk on a Mac" or "how to type a paragraph on a MacBookat".
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Pro Use symbols that are not on the keyboard Procharacter viewer
There is a second tool that is more suitable for less common symbols. ProThe character viewer includes emoji, math symbols, currency symbols, arrows, and a huge number of other characters. If you need something once every six months, it is often unnecessary to search for and remember a specific key combination. ProThe character viewer can be opened using the Fn key or the globe key, depending on your Mac's settings. Apple it directly lists this menu as a way to insert emoji and symbols.
If you switched to Mac from Windows, it is worth remembering the key Option (⌥). On some keyboards, you may also know it as Alt. It unlocks a number of characters that are not visible on the keyboard, and in combination with Shift, it opens up another layer of symbols. But there is no point in learning dozens of combinations in advance. It is much more practical to learn three things: where to find Option, how to open Prokeyboard viewer and how to open Procharacter viewer. Then you can handle virtually any character, even if you've never typed it on a Mac before.
