Best text expansion app for Mac

• Keyboard Shortcuts Mac Characters
• Keyboard Symbol Shortcuts For Mac
• Keyboard Shortcuts For Mac Os
• Keyboard Shortcuts For Macbook
• Excel Keyboard Shortcuts For Mac

Keyboard shortcuts for macOS. Author: Brad Gashler Created Date: 9/15/2019 7:09:02 PM. Click Keyboard Shortcuts. The keyboard shortcuts will appear. Editing shortcuts. You can edit a shortcut by clicking on the shortcut and then pressing the shortcut key that you would like to use. Some of the shortcuts can be used as global shortcuts, meaning they will work even when Zoom is not in focus.

1. Special symbols. One of more confusing aspects of keyboard shortcuts on the Mac are the symbols.
2. Quit any Mac program. Command-Q: If you’re coming from a Windows computer, you might have.

Whether you’re new to Mac or have been using it for years, highly specialized things like shortcuts, special Mac symbols, and accented characters might result in a web investigation spiralling out of control.

If you’ve just recently switched from Windows, you should know that Macs don’t really use alt codes to type special symbols. Instead, all of the most popular Unicode characters can be typed in right from the keyboard. Unfortunately, Apple could do a much better job of shining light at this functionality.

For example, if you want to get a copyright symbol on Windows (©), you need to type in Alt 0169 — whereas, a copyright symbol on Mac is just Option + G. Similarly, a degree symbol on Mac (º) is Option + Zero and a registered trademark symbol on Mac (™) is Option + 2.

Truth is there are many more like this and below we’ll explore different ways of how to type copyright symbol on Mac or any special characters Macs allow, where to find Apple keyboard symbols, and whether there’s an emoji keyboard on Mac.

What Are All The Mac Keyboard Symbols?

Keyboard Shortcuts Mac Characters

While a standard computer keyboard contains around 80 keys, you’re able — in one way or another — use it to input all of the Unicode characters, of which there are about 130,000.

To start, simply explore how all the face-value characters change when you combine them with modifier keys — Control, Option, and Command. You can even combine multiple modifiers together as well. To see all Mac keyboard shortcuts symbols clearly, however, you need to turn on the full keyboard layout.

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Display all Mac keyboard symbols

Even if you’ve been using your Mac for a while, it’s useful to look at all the possible keyboard combinations from time to time to refresh your memory and discover new ways of quickly inputting information.

Luckily, it’s easy to show all Mac key symbols at once:

1. Go to System Preferences ➙ Keyboard
2. Check the box next to “Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar”

Now you can click on the language flag in your menu bar and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. The interactive display will appear, showing all the keyboard symbols and altering the view in real time when you use modifier keys.

Of course, even using all the modifier keys and combinations available, it’s impossible to fit all the characters in such constrained amount of space. To see all Mac key symbols, you need to select Show Emoji & Symbols option from the same language flag menu, or use a shortcut Control + Cmd + Space.

Here, you’ll see all kinds of categories on the left: Emoji, Arrows, Currency Symbols, etc. In the center are all the characters within a given category. And on the right you can pick a font variation of the same symbol.

To type in a TM symbol Macs use, for example:

1. Open your word processor of choice
2. Call the Mac symbols menu
3. Navigate to Letterlike Symbols on the sidebar
4. Double-click on ™ to paste it into your editor

How to create custom Mac keyboard shortcuts symbols

With the Show Emoji & Symbols window, you have access to nearly all Unicode characters you’ll ever need. However, if you need to use some special characters — such as a copyright symbol on Mac — rather frequently, it would be quite inconvenient to call up a menu and search for what you need every time. Of course, you can add the copyright symbol to your favorite characters, which will save you some time, but there’s a much better way.

Macs allow you to create shortcuts for all keyboard symbols to be able to easily type them in whenever you need. For example, to create a shortcut for the copyright symbol on Mac:

1. Type in the © character into your editor as described above and copy it with Command + C
2. Open System Preferences ➙ Keyboard
3. Navigate to the Text tab
4. Click the plus sign
5. Paste your © symbol in the With column on the right
6. Type in a desired key combination to trigger the copyright symbol on Mac in the Replace column on the left

Although this default shortcuts method works well for characters or emoji, it doesn’t effectively translate into longer strings of text or paragraphs. If you want to, for instance, create a shortcut that outputs a sales email template, you’d need to use a little nifty tool called Rocket Typist.

Rocket Typist is a full-featured text expansion app created to minimize repetition in composing any form of text-based communication. It’s essentially a small database of text snippets you’ll use over and over again.

Starting with Rocket Typist is easy: use File ➙ New to create a new snippet, specify the abbreviation, fill out as much text (sentences or even paragraphs) as you need, and then use the abbreviation to expand text in any application.

How to switch between keyboard languages quickly

Sometimes, the Mac keyboard symbols you need are only available in another language — say, they could be Cyrillic-based. To access them, you’d need to enable another keyboard layout on your Mac.

Luckily, it’s easy to do:

1. Go to System Preferences ➙ Keyboard
2. Navigate to Input Sources
3. Click the plus sign
4. Choose the language you need and press Add

Now, the second keyboard layout will be activated. Don’t forget to check the box next to “Show Input menu in menu bar” to see which layout is currently active. The standard shortcut to switch between layouts is Cmd + Space, but you can also change it to Caps Lock key in the Input Sources options.

Extra tip: typing emoji on iPhone is much easier if you add an emoji keyboard layout to your languages.

Special Characters: Type in various symbol variations

In some cases, you might just want to access a variation of the symbol that’s already on your keyboard, such as an accented letter.

One way to do this is to find the character of your choice in the Keyboard Viewer, as described above. Another way is to use a keyboard shortcut. You can get an acute accent by typing Option + E and then the letter. Similarly, circumflex is Option + I, grave accent is Option + backquote, tilde is Option + N, and umlaut is Option + U.

A quicker option though is to simply press the key of the letter you want to modify and hold it for a second until a small menu appears. Then just choose a number that corresponds to the modification you seek.

Digitize complex math expressions

If your studies or line of work require the use of complex math, you might be spending too much time crafting LaTeX and MathML expressions by hand. But as with nearly everything else nowadays, there’s an easier way.

MathKey is a Mac app specifically developed to write complex equations in academic papers and math documents. Instead of composing dozens of obscure symbols together, the app allows you to hand-write the equation using your trackpad (or mouse) and output perfect LaTeX or MathML, ready for publication.

Search for anything instantly

It’s likely that you won’t retain all the information provided here. But don’t worry, the only thing you need to keep is a supercharged search that can take you right back to the answer you’re looking for.

Lacona is an intelligent search for your Mac that contextually analyzes the query and outputs a range of possible solutions, whether it’s launching a certain app, looking it up online, or performing a pre-defined action.

Any question about Mac keyboard shortcuts symbols — such as “how to type copyright symbol on Mac?” — would be met with a guiding response. And all you have to do to start Lacona is press Option + Space.

So there are a lot of things your Mac is capable of that you might have not even considered before. With regards to symbols and characters, what you see on the keyboard is just a tiny slice compared to the total amount available. Using Mac symbols properly will enrich your communication, making it clear and efficient, especially if you get used to creating snippets with Rocket Typist, transferring math equations with MathKey, and keeping everything at the tips of your fingers with Lacona.

Best of all, the apps mentioned above are available to you on a free trial through Setapp, a platform of more than 150 specific Mac apps that are designed to make your days more productive and fun. Now you’re ready to solve some equations!

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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macOS is a wonderful operation system. Unlike iOS, Apple allows all the customization options on the macOS. You can change the default browser and Mail app and make other changes to your preference. Among them, the ability to create custom keyboard shortcuts for macOS's most-used actions is my favorite addition.

By default, macOS comes with most-essential keyboard shortcuts to improve your productivity. But there can be times when you want to access certain menus or functions such as Notification Centre or Do Not Disturb mode repeatedly and miss the absence of those swift keyboard shortcuts. Thankfully, you can always assign custom keyboard shortcuts for them.

The functionality doesn’t end here. You can also create keyboard shortcuts for third-party apps like Firefox, Pixelmator, and more.

In this post, we are going to talk about how to create custom keyboard shortcuts on Mac. I will explain how you can simplify your workflow by setting up custom keyboard shortcuts for macOS menu, functions, and third-party apps. Let’s get started.

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Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Frequently Used Words and Phrases

This one is similar to iOS. You can create keyboard shortcuts forfrequently used words and phrases. I can’t emphasize enough how muchtime it has saved me over the years.

You can set keyboard shortcuts for email ID, home address, and otherphrases that you use frequently. Follow the steps below to set them up.

Step 1: Tap on the Apple logo at the upper left corner and open System Preferences.

Step 2: Navigate to Keyboard > Text.

Step 3: Tap on the ‘+’ icon at the bottom leftcorner and add the shortcut for the phrase. For example, you can type‘email’ in it and replace the phrase with your actual email ID.

You can create as many keyboard shortcuts that you like in the macOS. I have created keyboard shortcuts for special charactersincluding degree, rupee, and added a couple of my email addresses. Ican simply type ‘degree’ and macOS will replace it with the degreesymbol.

Note: You can create a customkeyboard shortcut for email but don’t try to do the same for thepassword. Anyone using your Mac can access the Keyboard menu without anyauthentication. So, it’s not wise to create custom keyboard shortcutsfor passwords.

Assign Keyboard Shortcuts for macOS Menu

As mentioned earlier, macOS comes with a ton of keyboardshortcuts to improve your productivity. But it doesn’t support all themenus and functions on the Mac. That's where Mac keyboardcustomization options come in. You can look at default keyboardshortcuts in Mac, remove them, and even assign new keyboard shortcutsfor other macOS menus.

Go through the steps below to set them up.

Step 1: Open Spotlight Search (use Command + Space keyboard shortcut) and type System Preferences in it.

Step 2: Go to Keyboard > Shortcuts.

Keyboard Symbol Shortcuts For Mac

Step 3: You will see a bunch of options on theleft side. You can take a look at assigned keyboard shortcuts. You candisable the keyboard shortcut for it and even double tap on it andassign a new keyboard shortcut.

In some options, you will see ‘none’ written on the sides. That means the system hasn’t assigned any keyboard shortcut to it, but you can add one based on your preference.

For example, you can go to Mission Control and assign keyboardshortcuts for Show/Hide Notification Center and Turn on/off Do NotDisturb mode.

macOS also allows you to add keyboard shortcuts for otherservices such as Pictures, Messaging, Files and Folder, Searching, Text,and Internet. For instance, I use Pixelmator to edit images. Instead ofselecting images and then opening them from the context menu, I can assign a keyboard shortcut for it.

Go to Services > Pictures > Open with Pixelmator Pro andassign a keyboard shortcut for it. Next time, just select the picturesthat you want to edit in the app and use the keyboard shortcut to openthem in the app and start editing.

Keyboard Shortcuts For Mac Os

Note: Don’t assign a keyboardshortcut that’s already enabled in the macOS. Try to use a uniquecombination of keys that don’t interfere with other keyboard shortcutson Mac.

Keyboard Shortcuts For Macbook

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Create App Keyboard Shortcuts

Most Mac apps do come with keyboard shortcuts support out of the box. But it might not be enough for you as they don’t support keyboard shortcuts for every menu or function. In such cases, you can always create custom app keyboard shortcuts.

Step 1: Tap on the Apple logo at the upper left corner and open System Preferences.

Step 2: Navigate to Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts and tap on the ‘+’ icon at the bottom left corner.

Step 3: You can either create a universal keyboard shortcut for all applications or go to a specific app.

Step 4: Now, you need to enter the exact name of the menu command you want to add. Add menu title and keyboard shortcut for it.

That’s it. You can now use the assigned keyboard shortcut in the appto access the relevant menu. Let me remind you again, be aware ofsetting a keyboard shortcut that may duplicate one that is already inuse by another system function or app if they conflict with eachother or fail to perform an action at all.

The last thing you want is to go to the trouble of setting up a key combination that ultimately fails to perform the action.

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Quickly Move Through Menus and Options on Mac

macOS offers the flexibility to customize and assign a keyboardshortcut to every menu and option on the OS. Go through the tricks aboveand customize the keyboard shortcuts you like and experience yourproductivity going through the roof. Are there any specific custom shortcuts you've created and would like to share them others? Mention them in the comments below.

Next up:Are you looking to improve your productivity on Mac? Read the post below to find the seven best Mac apps to stay organized.

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read Next7 Best Mac Apps to Stay OrganizedAlso See#productivity #keyboard

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