We often need special characters to help give visual effects to our writing. They help to draw and keep the reader’s attention. The check mark (√) is one of those special characters, but you won’t find it visible on your Mac keyboard. So, how do you type it?
You can insert the check mark character into your text in a couple of different ways. The easiest is to press the “Option + V” keys simultaneously, but you can also use the character or emoji popup to insert it.
My name is Eric and I have been a computer enthusiast for many years. I know that special characters can often bring much-needed attention to the text you are typing. While it may seem difficult to type or insert them, it’s really not and I can show you how to insert the check mark.
Keep reading below if you would like to find out more about how to type the check mark on your Mac. I will also show you how to use the emoji or character popup window to insert this special character into your text.
Contents
Method 1: Insert the Check Mark with Your Keyboard
The quickest way to insert a check mark into your text is to use your keyboard to type it. As mentioned above, this symbol does not appear on your keyboard, but you can use a specific key combination to type it.
All you need to do is click or move to the location where you wish to insert the check mark character. Once there, press the Option and V keys at the same time.
This will insert the check mark character into your current cursor location. That’s all there is to it!
Method 2: Use the Emoji Pop-up
If you don’t like trying to press multiple keys at one time, or you prefer to use the mouse to find and insert the character, you can use the emoji popup window to do this. This is nearly as easy as the first method, but you will need to type in the name of the character to search for it the first time you do it.
To do this, click in the location you wish to insert the check mark character and then press the CONTROL, COMMAND, and SPACE keys all at the same time. This will bring up the emoji window.
Type the word check in the emoji window’s search field and you will see a variety of check marks available to select from.
The check mark you select will be inserted into the text location you have selected.
Keyboard VS. Emoji Window
I have shown two methods above for inserting the check mark character into your text. You may be wondering which one you should use. In the end, the choice is up to you but there are a couple of things to consider.
The keyboard method is great if you want to quickly place the character in your text. There’s no need to open another window and search for it but you will need to remember the key combination.
While the keyboard method is easy, it does not give any options. There is only one check mark character that it will insert. The emoji window gives you a few different options when it comes to checkmarks.
I prefer the check marks provided by the emoji window because they are cleaner looking and are clearly check marks. The check mark inserted by the Option+V key combination actually looks like a square root symbol and is in fact used as the square root symbol by some.
You can decide which of the methods works best for you, but I hope the information I have provided can help you to do so.
How to Display the Check Mark Symbol in HTML
If you are a software developer and need to display this symbol in some HTML or other code you are writing, you can’t just put the symbol into your output text using a keyboard combination or the emoji popup, you will need to use the ASCII code or the proper HTML code.
The following are 3 different ways that you can code it in HTML
- ✓ – HTML check mark in decimal
- ✓ – HTML check mark in hex
- ✓ – HTML check mark named
If you are writing in other languages you should be able to use the decimal or hex code shown above to display the check mark symbol. There are also other variations of the check mark and similar characters that can be used in your text.
FAQs
Below are a few questions that are often asked when discussing how to type a check mark on a Mac.
Is the check mark typed from the keyboard the same as the one from the emoji window?
No, they are definitely not the same. The one that is inserted with Option+V is thinner and if you look closely it looks like a square root symbol. The ones from the emoji table are quite different looking. They are thicker and come in a few different varieties.
- √ – check mark from the keyboard
- ✔️- check mark from the emoji table
- ✓ – check mark from the emoji table
- ✔ – check mark from the emoji table
- ✅- check mark from the emoji table
- ☑ – check mark from the emoji table
- ☑️- check mark from the emoji table
Why is Option+V typing the square root symbol?
If you thought that the character inserted with the Option+V key combination looks like a square root symbol, then you are correct.
This is, in fact, the key combination and character that you would use for the square root symbol. It just happens to also look like a check mark so we often use it as a check mark. If the fact that it is also a square root symbol is a problem you can use the emoji window for one of the check marks available there.
Which check mark should I use?
As you can see, there are a number of different check marks that you can use in your text and you may not be sure which one to choose.
I like the standard check mark in the emoji window, but the others are nice also. Some apps do not allow you to use the emoji window so you may be stuck with the Option+V version. Ultimately, you should use the one that best fits your situation and that you feel comfortable using.
Conclusion
Inserting and using check marks in your text can be a great addition to help draw attention to whatever you are writing or displaying. It’s a nice effect and it is fairly straightforward to do as you can see from the information given above.
I hope that this has helped you to be able to insert check marks into your text where appropriate. As usual, let me know if you have any questions or comments. I would love to hear from you.
