Type mdash, multiply symbol etc on Mac

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Level 1

8 points

Type mdash, multiply symbol etc on Mac

Hi,

While I was using Ubuntu and Windows, I used the Compose Key utilities to type special characters such as MDASH and MULTIPLY symbols easily with the combinations such as ComposeKey,x,x and ComposeKey,-,-,- etc. I have heard that Mac OS has the compose key by default. But I couldn't find a way to type these symbols. What is the key combination that you use?

Note: This is not simply using * for calculations. I exactly want to type × and — in this case.

Thank you.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Mar 5, 2018 4:28 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,070 points

Mar 5, 2018 6:38 AM in response to chathurak

For some you use option key shortcuts, e.g.

http://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/mac/codemac/#punc

For others you use the Character Viewer

macOS Sierra: Use emoji and symbols

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,070 points

Mar 5, 2018 8:00 AM in response to chathurak

You can try using a text replacement via system preferences/keyboard/text/replace with.

Another option is a custom keyboard layout. These can pretty easily be made with

http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele

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Answer 3

chathurak Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2018 7:55 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Since your answer actually could address my expectation, I changed the state again to 'This resolved my problem'. However, I would still like to have this as a feature on MacOS as it is the known brand for desktop publishing (even if I am coming from a solutions-architecture background where I use such symbols too often). I think it's a "Must have" sort of a feature for an Apple machine. 😉

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Answer 4

BobHarris

Level 9

56,807 points

Mar 5, 2018 8:13 AM in response to chathurak

Since this is a user-to-user technical support forum, you will have to tell Apple via other means

macOS Feedback

<https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html>

They will not reply, but it does get read.

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Answer 5

chathurak Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2018 6:43 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you, Tom. This was really helpful. However, is there a way to customize these option key shortcuts? For example, can I replace the value ¢ with × for the same key combination?

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Type mdash, multiply symbol etc on Mac

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