- Keystroke for em dash on mac how to#
- Keystroke for em dash on mac code#
- Keystroke for em dash on mac mac#
To use this shortcut, obey the following instructions: If the above shortcut didn’t work for you, here’s another one you can use.
It works only with the minus key on the numeric keypad. NOTE: This will not work if you use the minus key just before the equal sign key. Key to type the em dash into your Word document. Turn on the Num Lock key by pressing Fn +.Keypad (such as a mini laptop), use the following instructions: If you are using a keyboard without a separate numeric simultaneously press and hold the Ctrl and the Alt keys, then press the Minus key on the numeric keypad at the right-hand side of the keyboard.If you are using a keyboard with a separate numeric keypad: To type this shortcut for the em dash, obey the following instructions:
Keystroke for em dash on mac how to#
So, my first option will show you how to insert this sign in Word using a keyboard shortcut.īelow are two easy ways you can type the em dash in word However, below are the step by step break down on how to type it. Type the em dash sign into your Word document. The table above contains all the information you need to
Keystroke for em dash on mac code#
So it's kind of just a given rule now on computing that you use the hyphen when you mean minus even though technically it's a different character.īut as far as the en dash and the em dash if you're worried about grammar in the rest of what you type you should probably look into using these characters in the Option, hyphen for the en dash and the Shift, Option, hyphen for the em dash and using them in your text as well as the rest of all the grammar rules that you follow.The table below also gives you the em dash shortcuts and alt code for Windows and Mac. In fact when doing work on a computer and wanting to perform calculations in Spotlight or Calculator or whatever you're using the hyphen as the minus key anyway. But on a computer, in almost all fonts even if there is a minus character included, the hyphen and the minus character are indistinguishable. For instance in typesetting there's actually a slightly different character for using a minus like in a mathematical formula. So there are actually even more than this but these are the ones typically used. Now there are some other uses for the em dash. So you don't need any extra space and in most grammar guides I see that you're not supposed to put any extra space around the em dash. This is because, in most fonts, the em dash actually includes a little bit of extra space to the left or right. Now notice I didn't put any extra spaces around the em dash. So a hyphen is just pressing the hyphen key. Now to type the em dash you hold the Option and the Shift key down. The quick brown fox-though he looks more red than brown to me-jumps over the lazy dog. What's the em dash used for? Well, it's used basically just like parentheses or as an aside in some text. n is a shorter letter and m is twice of an n in width so that's the em dash. This is a wider dash and you can guess from the name that it's supposed to be the width of the letter m, rather than the letter n. That's pretty much what you use the en dash for. Option and hyphen gives you the en dash, a longer one. So notice the regular hyphen how short that is. This gives you a different character than the regular hyphen. How do you type the en dash? Well you hold the Option key down on your keyboard and you press the hyphen key. So, for instance, if you want to say seven to ten you could say 7 and then the en dash to 10. You use this in cases where you're going to have a range of things. It's called en dash because the dash is about the size, the width, of the letter n. It's usually spelled en although there's some debate on how to actually write down the word en dash. So the first type of dash I want to talk about is called the en dash. But there are other places you would be using a dash. Those are the only places you should be using a hyphen. So when you see a hyphenated name you would use the hyphen. It's also used to separate numbers in things like telephone numbers. But if you do make sure you just type the plain normal hyphen that's on your keyboard. Now, sometimes, depending upon which dictionary you're using, you may not use a hyphen on any of these. It's usually to the right of the zero on American keyboards and is the correct one of use. So, for instance, you may want to type a compound word like this, well-liked, and using the hyphen on your keyboard. Many of us use the hyphen for all of the different dashes. One of them, the one we use most often, is actually not even called a dash. There are three different types of dashes. Now this is one thing when talking about letters and words.
Video Transcript: So whether writing a book, an email, or text message a lot of us like to be grammatically correct when typing on our computers.
Keystroke for em dash on mac mac#
Check out How and When To Type En and Em Dashes On a Mac at YouTube for closed captioning and more options.