Type the Euro Symbol € in Mac OS X

€ – If you want to reference the Euro symbol on your Mac, you’ve probably noticed that many keyboards don’t really make it obvious with the euro sign. But typing the Euro symbol in Mac OS X is actually really easy if you know the proper keystrokes.

Let’s review how to type the Euro sign on Mac OS X (€) with nearly any Apple keyboard.

The Keyboard Shortcut for Typing Euro (€) on Mac

To type the Euro symbol on any Apple keyboard, hit ALT + Shift + 2 .

€ Euro Symbol – Option+Shift+2

Note that “Option” is sometimes labeled as “ALT” key on Mac keyboards as well, or as “alt / option”, it depends on the Apple keyboard, but the keystroke is the same (Option and ALT are always the same keys on Mac).

On a Mac keyboard, hitting Shift, Option, and number Two will type out the EUR sign. If you hit those keystrokes a few times it will type the symbol multiple times. You must hit the keystrokes together to type the Euro sign, just like any other keyboard shortcut.

This probably goes without saying, but you’ll need to hit Option+Shift+2 in a place like a text editor or word processor to have the Euro symbol actually show up.

Typed a bit larger, the Euro sign looks like this:

€ € € € €

You can type that Euro symbol at any time with Option + Shift + 2 from any position where you can enter text.

This will work in any Mac app within Mac OS X, so whether you’re using Pages, Word, TextEdit, Microsoft Office, an email, a web browser, it’s the same. This applies to basically all Mac apps, and all Apple and Mac keyboards.

This isn’t obvious so don’t feel bad if you didn’t figure it out on your own. Speaking with friend of mine who was due to travel throughout Europe, he asked me (as the resident Mac guy) “How do I type the Euro symbol in OS X?”, and here’s the thing, he’s pretty tech savvy, so if he didn’t know than I’m sure many others don’t. The Euro is becoming increasingly powerful in global economics so it’s probably a good idea to know how to type the symbol, whether or not you ever use the currency itself or it’s symbol beyond your Mac is up to you though.

It’s worth noting that the Euro symbol is only available to type in some Mac OS X fonts, you won’t be able to use it with all font combinations, particularly some of the custom and funky font sets are lacking euro support. If you try to type the symbol in an unsupported font, it will usually just show up as a square box like any other unsupported special character.