Unicode is a monumental , sprawling effort that pairs a telephone number to every unparalleled fictional character in a language , every punctuation mark , every mathematics symbolization , and much more . And nearly all of it is available within macOS but not always easy to find .
If you are trying to type unique character such as the Euro sign or a lb sign see this freestanding story : How to type Æ , € , # , @ , © and more especial character on a Mac .
There ’s a semi - concealed way to access extra symbol sets in Unicode , and a slightly apart method of searching for specific symbols across all of macOS ’s included Unicode characters .
The Character Viewer lets you add sets to select from.
First :
Now , in the menu legal community , click the tiny pallet that has a command ( ⌘ ) winder in it and selectShow Emoji & Symbols . The Character Viewer that come out shows emoji by default , and with an input cursor in any app or form field that let you type in text , you may twice - click emoji to introduce them or drag them into a text file .
The Character Viewer let you add circle to pick out from .
The Character Viewer lets you add sets to select from.
But that ’s not the semi - hidden part . Click the gear icon ( Monterey or early ) or More … picture ( Ventura or afterwards ) in the upper leftfield and chooseCustomize Listand exposit theSymbolssection . you could now hold loge next to any commonly used Unicode sets you might want to utilize in documents or electronic mail . This can be handy for dingbat ( typographical frills and pre - emoji symbols ) , oecumenical signs ( like for charge plate and recycling ) , or up-to-dateness symbols .
The obscure part of this cognitive process offers even more option once you translate how to access them . You might find a Search playing area in the upper - proper corner of the Character Viewer . It ’s not immediately obvious what you’re able to look for for . The viewer have you match against characters you type , but also against any part of any name of a Unicode entity .
For instance , eccentric “ recycling ” and you ’ll see all the recycling symbolization ; case “ heart , ” and the looker equal all the emoji hearts , dingbat hearts , and heart in playing card symbols . ( you could also find all form of h , e , a , roentgen , and t across the written form of unlike languages . )
Search for heart, and Character Viewer matches all items for which “heart” is part of the name.
Search for bosom , and Character Viewer matches all items for which “ heart ” is part of the name .
This can be specially useful if you ’re essay to retrieve something slenderly obscure or elegant , like a one - one-half ½ sign ( search on “ half ” ) , and do n’t want to scroll through the endless Unicode curing .
Note : If you ’re sending files or e-mail to other masses who are n’t using a Mac or iOS , some of the symbolic representation may not appear depending on the configuration of their system : they ask a font installed that includes the special characters , or they may see what substance abuser - interface and case hoi polloi call “ bean curd : ” an unfilled good rectangle that indicates no character in the font is useable to display the symbol .
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