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Euro symbol on an US English keyboard.

Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,511
1,183
Hello,

I own a M2 MBP that has a US English keyboard. I do write a lot in German and know how to access "Umlaut" i.e. ä, ö and ü. It's option+u to get the two dots, then hit the letter I'm after. Option+s to get ß.

I'm stuck on getting the Euro symbol. Was hoping it was option+$ but all I get is ¢.

On my old MBP with Catalina, I'd select keyboard languages from the task bar>show Emoji&Symbols>Currency Symbols and then double click on the Euro symbol in the Character Viewer. Off course the cursor would have to be in the right position first.

Now this all seems like a very long way around such a simple task. I'm ok with the workflow of the Umlaut as described in the first paragraph, it's just that Euro symbol that's taking too long to achieve. Is there a way to shortcut this one or will I end up having to go to the German keyboard to achieve this?

Cheers
 
Where I've had problems with really tricky symbols in the past- subscript and superscript for instance- I copy and paste them into something like an email draft or notes.
Then it's go to symbol, Command+C to copy, Command+V to paste in the appropriate place.
But even if it isn't on your keyboard you can link to the keyboard viewer in the task bar and find it on the virtual keyboard you've installed there.
(If you've got lots of them to do in a text you can copy once then go through the text and paste them all in at the end when you are proofing. You can even use find and replace to do this so you could use the $ and then replace them all in one stroke).
 
Last edited:
ab22 said:
Option Shift 2 does it here on Monterey : has that changed ?
Click to expand...
Good grief, this also works in Ventura and Catalina. Looks like I've been going the long way round to achieve this for eons. Somehow I was looking for a solution involving the $ key. Now it's just a case of remembering this after today.
 
Seeing how I'm so used to the option+u to create ä, ö, and ü, is there a way to perhaps map the shortcut of option+4 to achieve € ?
 
Alpha Centauri said:
Seeing how I'm so used to the option+u to create ä, ö, and ü, is there a way to perhaps map the shortcut of option+4 to achieve € ?
Click to expand...
Yes you can: see the keyboard short-cuts in System Preferences. But be careful what you choose.

Other tip: since I started working on Apple hardware I have maintained a document with tips (my memory is limited).
Every thing I might forget goes in an index with an inter-document link to a page with explanation.
No, not the birthday of my wife ...
;JOOP!
 
Sciuriware said:
Yes you can: see the keyboard short-cuts in System Preferences. But be careful what you choose.

Other tip: since I started working on Apple hardware I have maintained a document with tips (my memory is limited).
Every thing I might forget goes in an index with an inter-document link to a page with explanation.
No, not the birthday of my wife ...
;JOOP!
Click to expand...
Thank you, yes I looked in the Prefs but just don't see how to turn option+shift+2 into option+4 to achieve the €

Here's the limited choices I'm looking at. No + to create a shortcut automation in there. dollar.png
 
Alpha Centauri said:
Good grief, this also works in Ventura and Catalina. Looks like I've been going the long way round to achieve this for eons. Somehow I was looking for a solution involving the $ key. Now it's just a case of remembering this after today.
Click to expand...

This might not help you when you're using the built-in keyboard, but if you ever use external keyboards, some keyboard makers print the extended character set onto the keycaps.

For example:

Matias Tactile Pro

“The best keyboard Apple ever made” rises again.
matias.ca

Matias Laptop Pro Keyboard for Mac

a better wireless keyboard for your Mac
www.matias.ca
 
Alpha Centauri said:
having a brain fart moment. Do you mean the customisation of the keyboard in System Preferences or the standalone shortcuts app?
Click to expand...

Not your fault, that previous comment you're replying to was quite vague. Here's exactly what you do:
  1. go to System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements
  2. click the + button to add a new shortcut
  3. next to "Replace", type in any string of text. In the screenshot below, I chose "*euro" which won't get accidentally triggered because I'd never normally type it.
  4. next to With, paste in the € symbol
The shortcut you set up in step 3 will be replaced with the € symbol, immediately after you type it and hit the space bar. This shortcut will sync over to any Mac, iPhone or iPad signed into the same iCloud account.

Screenshot 2023-06-22 at 3.38.28 PM.png
 
Last edited:
ignatius345 said:
Not your fault, that previous comment you're replying to was quite vague. Here's exactly what you do:
  1. go to System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements
  2. click the + button to add a new shortcut
  3. next to "Replace", type in any string of text. In the screenshot below, I chose "*euro" which won't get accidentally triggered because I'd never normally type it.
  4. next to With, paste in the € symbol
The shortcut you set up in step 3 will be replaced with the € symbol, immediately after you type it and hit the space bar. This shortcut will sync over to any Mac, iPhone or iPad signed into the same iCloud account.

View attachment 2222089
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, it does work but I'll keep it in mind for the future.

Within this shortcut I'd thought to be clever and replace option+shift+2 with option+4 but it's not text and off course won't work that way. It's not that often I need €, was just looking for a combination of option+(one other key) as I use for the Umlaut. I'll try option+shift+2 , hopefully it will attach to some sort of muscle memory.
 
As a Mac user (and technical writer) for over 30 years one of my favourite bits of software and one of the first to be installed on every machine I have had is PopChar. Sits in the Menu bar, and with frequently used but "rare" (if that is not an oxymoron) symbols in my favourites, it is an essential tool for me - at my age I ahve little memory recall for short-cuts.
 
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Geordiekeith said:
As a Mac user (and technical writer) for over 30 years one of my favourite bits of software and one of the first to be installed on every machine I have had is PopChar. Sits in the Menu bar, and with frequently used but "rare" (if that is not an oxymoron) symbols in my favourites, it is an essential tool for me - at my age I ahve little memory recall for short-cuts.
Click to expand...
Wow, PopChar has been around forever. I used to use it on my Mac Classic II 😱
 
Blue Quark said:
I hate to break it to you folks, but [⌥] + [SHIFT] + [2] has been the € since Mac OS X 10.0 and Apple's implementation of Unicode.
Click to expand...
I didn't realise. Logically, I would have assumed option+4 would have switched from $ to €. Instead, this key combination gets me ¢.
 
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