Unicode Hex Input

You can key unicode hex input directly into any application in Mac OS X.

  1. Andd Unicode Hex Input in your keyboard input sources.

    Under the Apple menu (at the left of the menu bar), choose System Preferences…, then choose Keyboard. Make sure there’s a check in the box to the left of “Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in menu bar”: This will display a flag (or flag-like) icon near the right-hand end of your menubar. Then choose Input Sources… to access the preferences for Language & Text. Near the bottom of the (long) scrolling list, place a check next to Unicode Hex Input, and at the bottom right, make sure there’s a check next to “Show Input menu in menu bar.”

  2. Choosing the Unicode Hex Input method alters the behaviour of the “Option” key. To place U+03B1 into your document, hold down the Option key and – while holding it down – tap the four keys 0, 3, b, and 1 in sequence. On pressing the last of the four, the character α appears; you can then release the option key.

Char Hex Code Name
✓ 2713 Check mark
✔ 2714 Heavy check mark
✕ 2715 Cross mark
✖ 2716 Heavy cross mark
✗ 2717 Ballot
✘ 2718 Heavy ballot
□ 25A1 White square
☑ 2611 Checked white square
☒ 2612 Crossed white square
␣ 2423 open box to indicate visible spaces, keystrokes

Character View

Use Character Viewer to choose from a list of premapped special characters on Mac keyboard.

Click in the text where you want to place the character, then choose Edit > Emoji & Symbols (or press Control-Command-Space bar).

character viewer

To locate a character, do any of the following:

  • Scroll to see more characters, or click the buttons at the bottom to jump to a category.
  • Scroll up, then type in the search field at the top (for example, type “fractions” to see available fractions, or type the Unicode name or code).
  • Scroll up, then click the button in the top-right corner to open the full Character Viewer.

Checkbox: type “ballot” into the search field. You may choose unchecked/checked boxes as need.

  • ☑/☒ checked

  • ☐ unchecked

Commonly used characters

https://mackeeper.com/blog/special-characters-mac-keyboard/

Need to be in English Keyboard.

Character Name Keyboard combination
• bullet list opt + 8
° degree opt + shift + 8