How to Type a Degree Symbol on a Mac (Every Method Explained)

The degree symbol — ° — is one of those characters you rarely think about until you need it. Whether you're writing about temperature, geographic coordinates, or angles in a technical document, knowing how to produce it quickly on a Mac can save you a surprising amount of frustration.

The good news: macOS gives you several ways to insert it, ranging from a single keyboard shortcut to more deliberate menu-based methods. Which one suits you best depends on how often you need it, what app you're working in, and how your keyboard is configured.

The Fastest Method: Keyboard Shortcut

On most Mac keyboards with a standard US layout, the degree symbol shortcut is Shift + Option + 8. Press all three keys simultaneously and the ° character appears wherever your cursor is positioned.

This works in virtually every native macOS application — Pages, TextEdit, Notes, Mail — and in most third-party apps including Microsoft Word, Google Docs (in browser), and Slack. It's the method worth memorizing if you use the degree symbol with any regularity.

🔑 Quick reference:Shift + Option + 8 = °

It's worth noting this is different from Option + 0 (zero), which some users try first. That combination produces the º character — a masculine ordinal indicator used in Spanish and Portuguese writing — which looks nearly identical but is technically a different Unicode character. If precision matters (scientific documents, data entry, code), use Shift + Option + 8 for the true degree symbol (U+00B0).

Using the Character Viewer

If keyboard shortcuts aren't your preference, or if you're hunting for a symbol you don't use often enough to memorize, macOS includes a built-in Character Viewer — a searchable panel of every character and emoji your system supports.

To open it:

1. Click the Edit menu in most apps, then select Emoji & Symbols
2. Or use the keyboard shortcut Control + Command + Space
3. In the search bar, type "degree"
4. Double-click the ° symbol to insert it at your cursor

The Character Viewer also lets you add frequently used symbols to a Favorites section, which can be useful if you regularly work with special characters beyond just the degree symbol.

Typing It Through the Keyboard Menu Bar

macOS lets you enable a keyboard input menu in the menu bar, which gives you quick access to the Character Viewer without going through the Edit menu.

To enable it:

1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
2. Go to Keyboard
3. Enable "Show Input Menu in Menu Bar" (the exact label varies slightly by macOS version)

Once enabled, a keyboard icon appears in the top-right menu bar. Clicking it gives you access to the Character Viewer and, if you've added multiple keyboard layouts, the ability to switch between them.

Using Text Replacement as a Workaround

If you type the degree symbol frequently — say, you're writing weather reports, engineering notes, or geographic data — macOS's Text Replacement feature offers a practical alternative to memorizing shortcuts.

How to set it up:

1. Open System Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacements
2. Click the + button
3. In the Replace field, type a shorthand like deg
4. In the With field, paste the ° symbol

After saving, any time you type deg followed by a space, macOS automatically substitutes the degree symbol. This syncs across Apple devices through iCloud if you're signed in, making it available on your iPhone and iPad as well.

App-Specific Considerations

Not every environment behaves identically. A few situations where the standard shortcut or Character Viewer may behave differently:

If you're working in a specialized application — particularly anything involving code, databases, or custom input handling — it's worth verifying the character is being stored as the correct Unicode code point (U+00B0) rather than a lookalike.

What Affects Which Method Works for You 🖥️

A few variables determine which approach is most practical:

• Keyboard layout: Non-US keyboard layouts may map Option combinations differently. If Shift + Option + 8 produces an unexpected character, your layout may be set to something other than US English. Check under System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources.
• macOS version: The Character Viewer interface and System Settings layout have changed across macOS versions (especially between Monterey, Ventura, and Sonoma). The underlying functionality is the same, but menu paths may differ slightly.
• How often you need it: Occasional use favors the keyboard shortcut. Frequent, high-volume use in specific workflows might make Text Replacement more efficient.
• Whether you need the exact Unicode character: Casual use — writing that it's 72° outside — rarely requires precision. Technical writing, data entry, or anything that might be parsed by software is a different situation.

The degree symbol sits at an interesting intersection of simplicity and specificity. The shortcut takes two seconds to learn, but whether that shortcut is the right tool — and whether it's producing exactly the right character — depends on the context you're working in.