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We continue our series on becoming more productive using our Macs by sharing yet another use for keystroke combinations – placing special symbols within your documents. Each of these symbols begins with a simple press and hold of the Option key.

Below are a few of the commons symbols we use on a regular basis. While there are some you may never use, such as the Ø symbol, we hope you find one or two. Remember, if a capital letter is displayed, you have to hold Shift along with Option. We’ve organized the list based on our most used/favorite symbols rather than an actual keyboard keystroke location. We’ve formatted the keystroke combinations as a quick reference chart. Simply print out this post, clip on the dotted lines and place somewhere next to your computer. In time, the more common keystrokes you use will become second nature. And yes, we did create this chart with a standard text editor. It’s just plain text folks and that’s a discussion for another post.

Here’s a special character’s tip that can add some professionalism to your documents, web pages and blog posts. Instead of using the default keyboard quotes and apostrophes [ ' & " ], try using their typographically correct versions [ ’ & “” ]. The simple use of these symbols can add just a hint of journalistic professionalism.

Did we miss a common symbol that should be included on our quick reference? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Alright, we’ve covered some basic keystroke combinations that you can use to keep you chugging along at break neck speed. Next week we will look at how to supercharge your keystroke combinations and become even more productive using a free application know as Quicksilver.

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