How to Put the Degree Symbol on a Mac: Every Method Explained

Typing the degree symbol (°) on a Mac is one of those small tasks that feels mysterious until you know where to look. Whether you're writing temperatures, coordinates, or angles, there are several ways to get that tiny circle — and the best method depends on how often you need it and what you're doing when you need it.

The Fastest Keyboard Shortcut

The quickest way to type the degree symbol on a Mac is with a keyboard shortcut:

Press Option + Shift + 8

This works in virtually every Mac application — Pages, Word, Notes, Safari text fields, email clients, code editors — anywhere you can type. You don't need to install anything or change any settings. This is the method most Mac users settle on once they learn it.

A note on muscle memory: the Option key on Mac keyboards is labeled Option or Alt depending on the model. Both are the same key.

The Character Viewer: Browse and Insert Any Symbol

If you need the degree symbol occasionally and don't want to memorize shortcuts, macOS includes a built-in Character Viewer that lets you search and insert thousands of symbols.

To open it:

1. Click in any text field where you want the symbol
2. Press Control + Command + Space
3. In the Character Viewer window, type "degree" in the search bar
4. Double-click the symbol to insert it

You'll see a few variations here — including the degree sign (°) and the masculine ordinal indicator (º), which looks similar but is technically a different character. More on that distinction below.

You can also access Character Viewer through the menu bar by going to Edit → Emoji & Symbols in most native macOS apps.

Using the Touch Bar (Older MacBook Pros)

MacBook Pro models released between 2016 and 2021 include a Touch Bar — the narrow OLED strip above the keyboard. Some apps surface special character shortcuts in the Touch Bar when you're typing. However, the degree symbol doesn't appear here by default, so this isn't a reliable route for most users on those machines.

Copy-Paste From Anywhere

If you only need the degree symbol once in a while, copying it from a reliable source and pasting it works fine. You can paste it from this article: °

This approach has no learning curve, but it breaks your writing flow every time. For occasional use it's perfectly reasonable. For frequent use, the keyboard shortcut is worth learning.

Text Replacement: Automate It Your Way 🔧

macOS has a Text Replacement feature that lets you define your own shortcuts. For example, you could set deg to automatically expand to ° whenever you type it.

To set this up:

1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
2. Go to Keyboard → Text Replacements (the exact label varies slightly by macOS version)
3. Click the + button
4. In the Replace column, type your trigger word (e.g., deg)
5. In the With column, paste the degree symbol (°)
6. Click Add

This syncs across apps that support macOS text substitution and can even sync to your iPhone and iPad via iCloud if you use the same Apple ID.

Third-Party Keyboard Apps and Utilities

Power users who work heavily with special characters often use third-party tools like PopClip, Keyboard Maestro, or Espanso. These utilities offer more granular control over text expansion, including triggers that work system-wide regardless of whether an app supports native macOS text substitution.

These tools add complexity and, in most cases, a cost — so they make more sense for people who are already managing a large library of custom shortcuts or automations.

The Degree Sign vs. Similar-Looking Characters

This is worth knowing because it can affect how your text looks and behaves, especially in technical or published writing:

The degree sign (U+00B0) is what you want in almost all cases. The masculine ordinal indicator looks nearly identical on screen but is the wrong character for temperatures or angles. Using Option + Shift + 8 gives you the correct U+00B0 degree sign every time.

Which macOS Versions Support These Methods

All of the methods described above — keyboard shortcut, Character Viewer, and text replacement — work on macOS Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, and earlier versions. The interface for System Settings changed in macOS Ventura (Apple renamed it from System Preferences), but the underlying functionality is the same.

What Affects Which Method Works Best for You 🖥️

Here's where individual setups start to matter:

• How often you type the degree symbol — daily writers may want the keyboard shortcut committed to memory; occasional users may prefer copy-paste or Character Viewer
• Which apps you work in — some apps override macOS text substitution, making native text replacement unreliable
• Whether you use an external keyboard — non-Apple keyboards sometimes remap modifier keys, which can shift the shortcut behavior
• Your macOS version — the path to text replacement settings looks slightly different across OS versions
• Whether you work across Apple devices — if you need consistent behavior on iPhone and iPad too, iCloud text replacement sync changes the picture

The degree symbol itself is simple. What varies is how it fits into your specific workflow, the apps you use most, and how your keyboard is configured — and those details sit entirely on your side of the screen.