If you create a document for students to follow it is nice to add the different keyboard symbols. I automatically reach for option-8 to add a bullet point or add an apple with shift-option-k. I used to remember more of these but you can always find what’s available by opening the keyboard system preferences and selecting show Keyboard & Character Viewers in your menu bar. The image above shows the keyboard viewer with the keys shift-option selected. This will let you see the key that you would use to add a closed apple, as it was called many years ago, to your document.
Also if you want to show the command symbol (place of interest symbol) you can go to characters then add “place” to the search and find the character. If you are in Pages or iBook Author you have add special characters in the edit menu to view characters.
Another tip: you would like to see different symbols available with different fonts, such as Wingbats, you can open Font Book to view the different possibilities.
The animated Gif below shows you how this works. I created this Gif using a Voila video screencast. The video was then converted to a Gif using GIFBrewery. Remember, as well, if you are blogging with WordPress and you want the Gif animation to appear within your post you need to add it in full size.
