How to Type the Degree Symbol on a Mac

The degree symbol (°) is one of those characters you rarely need — until you suddenly need it constantly. Whether you're writing about temperature, geographic coordinates, or angles in a technical document, knowing where it lives on your Mac keyboard saves real time. The good news: there are several ways to type it, and they work across virtually every Mac running a modern version of macOS.

The Fastest Method: Option + Shift + 8

The most reliable way to type the degree symbol on a Mac is with this keyboard shortcut:

Option (⌥) + Shift + 8

Hold both Option and Shift, then press 8. The symbol ° appears immediately. No menus, no copy-paste, no extra apps. This works in almost every text field on macOS — word processors, email clients, browsers, spreadsheets, and notes apps.

This shortcut is baked into the macOS keyboard layout and doesn't depend on your app or document settings. It's the method most Mac users settle on once they learn it.

Using the Character Viewer for a Point-and-Click Approach

If you prefer not to memorize shortcuts, macOS includes a built-in Character Viewer (also called the Special Characters panel) that lets you browse and insert symbols visually.

To open it:

1. Click into any text field where you want the symbol
2. Press Control + Command + Space
3. A small emoji/character picker opens — click the icon in the top-right corner to expand the full viewer
4. Search for "degree" in the search bar
5. Double-click the ° symbol to insert it

The Character Viewer also shows you related symbols — like the degree Celsius (℃) and degree Fahrenheit (℉) characters, which are single glyphs that combine the degree symbol with the letter. Depending on your use case, those may be more appropriate than the standalone ° symbol.

Typing the Degree Symbol With Text Replacement

macOS has a built-in Text Replacement feature that lets you assign any symbol to a short text trigger. This is useful if you type the degree symbol frequently and want an even faster method.

To set it up:

1. Go to System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
2. Navigate to Keyboard → Text Replacements
3. Click the + button
4. In the Replace column, type a trigger like deg
5. In the With column, paste the ° symbol

After saving, typing deg followed by a space will automatically substitute the degree symbol in most apps. This works system-wide on macOS and syncs across devices if you use iCloud.

⌨️ Keep in mind that text replacement doesn't work in every application — some apps, particularly code editors with autocorrect disabled, won't trigger it.

Using the Numeric Keypad (If You Have One)

On Macs with an extended keyboard that includes a numeric keypad, you can also type the degree symbol using Option + 0 (zero) on some keyboard layouts. However, this varies depending on your input language settings and keyboard layout. Users with a U.S. English keyboard layout typically find that Option + Shift + 8 is more consistent.

If you're using a non-English keyboard layout — French, German, Spanish, and others — the shortcut may differ. You can check what your current layout produces by opening the Keyboard Viewer:

• Go to System Settings → Keyboard
• Enable Show Input Menu in Menu Bar
• Click the input menu icon in the menu bar and select Show Keyboard Viewer

The on-screen keyboard updates in real time as you hold modifier keys, so you can see exactly what each combination produces on your specific layout.

Which Method Makes Sense Depends on How You Work

The shortcut is fastest for occasional use. Text replacement pays off if you're writing temperature-heavy content regularly. The Character Viewer is the right tool when you need to find related symbols — like ℃ or ℉ — and aren't sure which variant fits your document.

A Note on the Degree Symbol vs. Similar Characters 🔍

There are a few characters that look like the degree symbol but aren't:

• Masculine ordinal indicator (º) — looks nearly identical but is used in Spanish and Portuguese (as in "1º"). It's typed with Option + 0 on a U.S. keyboard.
• Superscript zero (⁰) — a raised zero used in mathematical notation
• Ring above diacritic (˚) — a typographic character used in some languages

In most fonts and at normal reading sizes, these are visually similar. But they're different Unicode characters, which matters in technical documents, databases, and code. The true degree symbol is Unicode U+00B0, typed with Option + Shift + 8 on a standard U.S. Mac keyboard.

If your document will be processed by software, exported to another format, or used in a structured data context, using the correct Unicode character is worth being deliberate about — not just whatever looks right on screen.

Whether the built-in shortcut is enough or a more systematic solution makes sense depends on how often you need the symbol, what apps you're working in, and how much your keyboard layout differs from a standard U.S. setup.