Macintosh: Typing Special Characters and Symbols 
This document describes how to type special characters and symbols with the keyboard.
Typing special characters and symbols
You can type a variety of international and other special symbols and characters (including characters with diacritical marks, such as accents) by pressing combinations of keys on the keyboard.
The Key Caps program, which is installed with your system software, shows you the characters produced when you type certain keys and key combinations in the fonts available on your computer. Choose Key Caps from the Apple menu (Mac OS 9 or earlier) or choose Key Caps from the Utilites folder within Applications (Mac OS X), then choose the font from the Key Caps menu.
To have Key Caps show more options for special characters, press each of these keys or key combinations: Option, Shift, Shift-Option, Shift plus any key, and Option plus any key.
If you press the Option key, Key Caps outlines lightly the keys that you can use in combination with letter keys to type letters with accents or other diacritical marks.
If you see rectangles instead of diacritical marks on some of the pictures of keys in Key Caps, try pressing Option plus any key to see the diacritical marks.
If you press the Option key at the same time as a key for a specific diacritical mark and then release both keys, Key Caps outlines in bold the keys for letters that can be typed with that mark. (You'll see that most key combinations for diacritical marks can be used with the Space bar as well as letter keys, producing the mark without a letter.)
The most common diacritical marks and how to create them are listed below.
To type a letter or a space with a specific diacritical mark, press the Option key and the key for the mark simultaneously. Then type the letter that needs the mark.
If you're having trouble getting a mark and letter to appear together, try again. Be sure to press the Option key before (or at the same time as) the key for the mark; then, after you release both keys, type the letter to be marked.
(This information is gleaned from the Info Center online help system, which is located on your computer's hard disk.)
Typing special characters and symbols
You can type a variety of international and other special symbols and characters (including characters with diacritical marks, such as accents) by pressing combinations of keys on the keyboard.
The Key Caps program, which is installed with your system software, shows you the characters produced when you type certain keys and key combinations in the fonts available on your computer. Choose Key Caps from the Apple menu (Mac OS 9 or earlier) or choose Key Caps from the Utilites folder within Applications (Mac OS X), then choose the font from the Key Caps menu.
To have Key Caps show more options for special characters, press each of these keys or key combinations: Option, Shift, Shift-Option, Shift plus any key, and Option plus any key.
If you press the Option key, Key Caps outlines lightly the keys that you can use in combination with letter keys to type letters with accents or other diacritical marks.
If you see rectangles instead of diacritical marks on some of the pictures of keys in Key Caps, try pressing Option plus any key to see the diacritical marks.
If you press the Option key at the same time as a key for a specific diacritical mark and then release both keys, Key Caps outlines in bold the keys for letters that can be typed with that mark. (You'll see that most key combinations for diacritical marks can be used with the Space bar as well as letter keys, producing the mark without a letter.)
The most common diacritical marks and how to create them are listed below.
To type a letter or a space with a specific diacritical mark, press the Option key and the key for the mark simultaneously. Then type the letter that needs the mark.
If you're having trouble getting a mark and letter to appear together, try again. Be sure to press the Option key before (or at the same time as) the key for the mark; then, after you release both keys, type the letter to be marked.
(This information is gleaned from the Info Center online help system, which is located on your computer's hard disk.)
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