https://macmost.com/e-3910 To go beyond typing standard letters, numbers and punctuation and type special characters like accent marks, Emoji, symbols and more, you can use a variety of techniques. Learn them all and which ones to use for which kinda of special characters.
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00:00 Intro
00:23 1. Press And Hold For Accents And Letter Variations
01:48 2. Hold Down the Option Key
03:54 3. Type Using the Accessibility Keyboard
04:57 4. Dead Keys (Accent Keys)
06:02 5. Emoji And Special Character Viewer
07:46 6. Emoji Word Replacement
08:44 7. Character Viewer Panel
10:13 Tip: Quick Access In the Menu Bar
10:34 8. Copy And Paste Characters From Web Pages
11:14 9. Create Your Own List For Copy And Paste
11:43 10. Create Text Replacements For Easy Access
12:22 Bonus: Unicode Hex Input Keyboard
#macmost #mactutorial
There's a whole world you didn't cover in this in-depth presentation: the Hebrew alphabet and the niqqud symbols for vocalization.
Great video–thank you! I wanted to share a tip on creating inline fractions.
A few months ago I was trying to generate arbitrary inline fractions using the Fraction Slash glyph (Unicode code point U+2044, NOT the standard Division Slash ( ∕ ), U+2215) so that fractions are properly formatted on a single line (e.g. 13/17 –> 13⁄17). It works on my US keyboard (macOS) by typing the numerator, then pressing OPTION+SHIFT+1, and then typing the denominator followed by a space. You can achieve the same result with the Unicode keyboard (U+2044), and I imagine it works for other keyboards that map the Fraction Slash.
A limitation is that this only seems to work for numbers. Unfortunately I have only had success doing this in Chrome (I've tried Google Docs, Apple Notes, Safari,…). Has anyone else tried this or had success in other apps?
Helpful information. Thank you for sharing.
I like to think I'm decently well versed in operating a mac but then Gary comes along and shows another dozen different ways to do things I have never even heard of before! Amazing channel. 🙌
Gary, I had looked the way to type the schwa character for so long, and today you made me found it with this video. Thank you sooooo much! You’re THE EXPERT! Thank you a thousand times! 🎉
Great post Gary. In the "replace text with" section and adding an emoji, such as the burger you used, I find you can't add a Memoji that you create. Fn + E will open the emoji character list but Memojis won't show on that list. They will show in Text Message and Email, but that's it. You also can't move them into favorites. Any thoughts? I've tried copy and paste but no joy. Thank you.
macOS 26.6.2 ~ there's no "Other" option in the Keybord text input, no Unicode…
40+ years ago all we had was the ASCII conversion list! I remember typing and printing out (probably on the dot matrix or daisy wheel printer) all 256 options for the office to use!
I use the inverted explanation for the lead character in text replacement strings due to a conflict I have with using the exclamation as the lead character. For example, ¡ar is be replaced by → . You can also use bracketing or trailing characters. For example, ar or whatever avoids conflicts in your writing.
If you have an iPhone or iPad with iCloud enabled on both Mac and mobile device (same AppleID, naturally), your text replacements set up on your Mac will be shared with your mobile device. So, try to use a leading, trailing, or bracketing character you can easily type on the on-screen keyboard. For example, the inverted exclamation is found by holding the exclamation.
Very informative video. Thank you!
As a desktop publisher in the early '90s on System 7, we didn't have so many options. We also didn't even have emoji yet.
We quickly learned the Option key and other modifier keys.
We became depentent on a little paid utility called PopChar that sits invisibly in the upper left corner of the screen and pulls down a menu displaying every character in the font, as well as letting to select characters from the other fonts on your system.
If you hover over a character it will show you what keyboard combination will produce the desired character for you.
As someone who regularly types words in different languages, the ability to easily access special characters/diacritics is one of my favourite features on the Mac.
9:01 Gary, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm not getting the same results as you. When I first tried to find the symbol for the Character Viewer I didn't see it where you showed it. (The last symbol it displayed was the recycle symbol.) Instead, the symbol to display the Character Viewer was in the upper right-hand corner of the window. I displayed the Character Viewer and then clicked the symbol and now I see it where you showed it at the end. 🤷♂
12:22 Thank you! 🙏 I've known how to do this in Windows but didn't know how to this in MacOS despite using Macs for ~20 years. I think all the old-timers here who have been using computers since the 8-bit and/or mainframe days will really appreciate it.
This is hands down the most helpful video ever.
Great video! The unicode part is really funny!
Really geeky? Have some time to waste? How about really, really geeky. Using the Hex Input Keyboard, create a new note simply named [Option]0000 with no text added and you have created The Ghost Note. Wait, even better: [Forlorn French horn sounds in the distance] The Note With No Name. With hex 0000 and sort ascending, it will pop to the top of the Notes list, assuming no pinned items. (Mac Mini M4, 26.2.2)
Is there a way to start accessibility keyboard pre login.
Very helpful, Gary. Thanks!l
Very useful- I live in Italy and deal with several languages, but, corresponding with an American friend, I couldn't find the Spanish n with the familiar acent mark. I expected it would be in my italian keyboard using variations unhiding down the , studying visualised upon request, and almost went mad. It seemed cumbersome to get out of the Italian setting and pull down on the Spanish to find the n with the accent mark Your suggestions have saved me from jumping out or my 5th floor room (in the center of Rome).
Very useful.
I often want to add a flag after a country name. So I type, for example, Japan<space>crtl+command+space and it pops up the flag of Japan.
I also sometimes want to use combining characters, use ctrl+command+space and type "combin" in the search at top right. Then scroll down to select the combining enclosing circle then the character to combine with it.
⃝A
It does not combine properly in my browser, but it does in apps like Pages. A circle with a capital A inside it.
There are lots of tricks available. Some even use characters which appear as blanks within character viewer.
Been looking for a way to type the Euro symbol. €. found it…thanks
Gary… try this… go into system settings > Keyboard > then ‘edit’ under Input Sources > and turn on ‘Show input menu in menu bar’.
I wonder if these characters or some of them can be used in passwords I create?