How To Do Degree Symbol On Mac

Tips
1

I’m working on a report that includes a lot of temperatures, but I can’t figure out the right way to type the degree symbol on my Mac. I’ve tried a few keyboard shortcuts I found online, but they either don’t work or give me a different character. Could someone explain the correct shortcut or method that consistently works in apps like Word, Google Docs, and Mail on macOS?

2

On a Mac there are two main ways to type the degree symbol. Sounds like you hit the wrong combo or got the small circle from another keyboard layout.

  1. Quick keyboard shortcuts
    There are two different symbols people mix up:

• Degree symbol used for temperature
Shortcut: Option + Shift + 8
Example: 72° F

• Small raised zero look‑alike (masc. ordinal in some languages)
Shortcut: Option + 0
This one is not the right one for temperatures.

Stick with Option + Shift + 8 for temps.

  1. Using Emoji & Symbols panel
    If the shortcut still fails, check this method so you know it is in your font.

• Press Control + Command + Space
• Type “degree” in the search box
• Double click the ° symbol
• It will insert at your cursor

  1. Check your keyboard layout
    Some layouts change what Option keys do.

• Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > Edit
• Set Input Source to “U.S.” or “U.S. International”
• Try Option + Shift + 8 again

  1. Autocorrect trick (for long reports)
    If you type temperatures all day, set a shortcut.

• System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > Text Replacements
• Add a new one
Replace: degc
With: °C
• Another one:
Replace: degf
With: °F

Then you type “degc” and your Mac swaps it for °C. Helps a ton in big reports.

  1. Quick sanity check
    Paste this in your doc: 25°C
    If it looks right there, your font supports it and the issue is only the shortcut combo.
3

If the shortcuts you found online are spitting out weird circles or nothing at all, it’s usually not that the degree symbol is “missing,” it’s that macOS, your app, or your keyboard layout is messing with you.

@cazadordeestrellas already covered the main combos, so I’ll skip repeating those and hit the stuff that often gets overlooked:

  1. Check which degree symbol you’re getting
    Copy both of these into your doc and zoom way in:

    • Proper degree: 25°C
    • Wrong-ish one people use: 25ºC

    The first is U+00B0 (degree sign), the second is U+00BA (masculine ordinal). Some fonts make them look almost identical, which is why people think their shortcut is “wrong” or “not working.” The OS is actually giving you a symbol, just not the one you expect.

  2. Your app might be overriding shortcuts
    Word, Google Docs in Safari/Chrome, code editors, etc. can hijack Option / Shift combos.

    Quick test:

    • Try the shortcut in TextEdit (plain text mode).
    • If it works there but not in your report app, the problem is that app’s keybindings, not macOS.
    • In Word or similar, check Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and see if your combo is bound to something else.

  3. Use a system-level keyboard viewer to see what’s going on
    This is how you know if your layout is doing something weird.

    • Go to System Settings > Keyboard
    • Turn on “Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar”
    • Click the keyboard icon in the menu bar, open Keyboard Viewer
    • Hold Option, then Option + Shift and watch what appears on each key
      If the degree symbol does not appear where tutorials say it should, your input source/layout is the culprit.

  4. If you’re on a non‑US physical keyboard
    A lot of guides (and @cazadordeestrellas, to be fair) assume a US layout. On UK, EU, or ISO keyboards, the symbol can move around. The fix that usually works:

    • Temporarily add the “U.S.” layout in System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources
    • Switch to it via the menu bar
    • Try the shortcut again
      If it suddenly works, your original layout maps it differently. You can either:
    • Live with switching layouts while typing, or
    • Use text replacements, which are layout‑agnostic.

  5. For long reports, use app-specific tools instead of only macOS text replacement
    Text replacement is nice, but some apps have better built‑in tools:

    • In Word: Insert > Symbol, then recently used symbols will show first. You can assign your own shortcut directly to the degree symbol from there, so you don’t care what macOS does.
    • In Pages / Numbers: After inserting ° once (via Emoji & Symbols or shortcut), copy it and use Edit > Find > Replace later if you typed “deg” or something as a placeholder.

  6. Last resort: type by Unicode
    This is geeky but bulletproof if everything else is borked.

    • Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources
    • Add “Unicode Hex Input”
    • Switch to it from the menu bar
    • Hold Option and type: 00B0
    • Release Option → you get °

    That bypasses app shortcuts and layout weirdness.

If you want a lazy workflow for a huge temperature-heavy report:

  • Pick a fake token like TEMPx
  • Write your whole doc using “25TEMPxC” wherever you need a degree
  • At the end, global Find & Replace: TEMPx → °

Takes the stress out of fighting with shortcuts while you’re trying to actually write.

4

Skip the broken shortcuts for a second and treat this like a workflow problem instead of a “where’s the ° key?” problem.

1. Use one consistent symbol across the whole report

For scientific or technical work, commit to the real degree symbol (U+00B0). Do not mix it with the masculine ordinal º just because some shortcut spits that out more easily. Mixed symbols can mess up:

  • Search/replace
  • Copying to another app
  • Typesetting / PDF exports

Quick sanity check in your report editor:

  1. Type 25C
  2. Insert one symbol with whatever shortcut you currently have.
  3. Copy it and paste into a plain text editor that can show code points.
  4. Confirm it is ° (not º).

If your fonts make them look identical, zoom in or switch to a very plain font like Menlo or SF Mono for checking.

2. If shortcuts keep failing, switch to a text workflow

I partly disagree with relying too much on live shortcuts during writing. When you are typing dozens or hundreds of temperatures, obsessing over a key combo every time is a concentration killer.

Better pattern:

  1. While drafting, type 25degC or 25* C (pick a marker you never use elsewhere).
  2. Finish the text first.
  3. At the end, run a single global Find & Replace:
    • Find: deg
    • Replace: °

That avoids fighting app-level shortcut conflicts entirely and works in Pages, Word, Google Docs, LaTeX editors, basically anything.

3. Check your export and collaboration target

Where is the report going?

  • If it will be imported into LaTeX, InDesign or a journal template, keep the raw Unicode degree ° so it survives copy/paste.
  • If you might need LaTeX code, consider transforming later: use ° in the draft, then at the very end replace °C with \(^\circ\)C in a text editor before LaTeX compilation.

The important bit: do not let your word processor auto-correct or “smart” replace your symbol with something weird. Turn off “smart quotes / smart punctuation” while testing.

4. When app shortcuts clash, move the shortcut instead of yourself

I agree with @cazadordeestrellas that apps often hijack Option combos, but I would not keep switching keyboard layouts just to get a degree symbol. That is overkill.

Better approach:

  • In Word or similar:
    • Insert the correct degree symbol once (via Emoji & Symbols or copy/paste).
    • Assign it a custom shortcut that is unlikely to clash, like Control + D.
  • In tools that support snippets (Typinator, TextExpander, BetterTouchTool, Keyboard Maestro):
    • Create a snippet so typing something like ;deg auto expands to °.

That works regardless of physical keyboard or layout and is way more reliable than chasing Option key positions.

5. Proofing step: verify spacing and style

For a clean technical look, especially if this is a formal report:

  • Use “25 °C” (with a nonbreaking space) if you follow strict SI typography, or “25°C” if you follow common engineering style.
  • Be consistent across the whole document.
  • If your app supports nonbreaking spaces, use them between the number and the unit so “25 °C” never splits across lines.

You can verify this with a final visual scan or by searching for C and checking each cluster of temperatures.

6. On the unnamed “How To Do Degree Symbol On Mac” type tutorials

Typical “How To Do Degree Symbol On Mac” guides are useful for learning the basic key combos, but their pros and cons matter here:

Pros

  • Very quick to learn the symbol at the OS level.
  • Work systemwide if your layout matches the tutorial assumption.
  • Good for occasional use or casual typing.

Cons

  • Often assume a US keyboard so non‑US users get different characters or nothing.
  • Do not address app-specific overrides or conflicts.
  • Focus on “press this” instead of helping you build a robust workflow for long, temperature‑heavy documents.

That is why complementing those basic tips with a text replacement or snippet approach gives you a much more reliable setup.

If you combine one trusted input method (snippet or custom shortcut) with a final global Find & Replace check, you can stop thinking about the symbol completely while drafting and still end up with a clean, consistent report.