Mac Dot Symbol: How to Type Bullets, Interpuncts, and Period Variants on a Mac

The bullet point is one of the simplest special characters you can type on your Mac. The symbol is commonly used to introduce list items in prose and documents. If it’s not already showing up as an option in your keyboard’s character viewer, however, there are ways around that — including typing the standard shortcut to insert a bullet point.

Interpunct (·) and the period (.) are similar to bullets, but each has different uses and appearance. You’ll need to be careful when choosing which one to use.

There are two built-in macOS methods for accessing special dot symbols, neither of which requires installing new fonts. Both require only that you have access to the Apple character viewer.

While most people think of periods (.) or interpuncts (·) as identical, they actually have different shapes and uses. You might also find the term “bullet” being used interchangeably with “interpunct,” especially if the symbol appears inside some other text string (rather than at the beginning of a sentence). In that case, you probably want a centered dot rather than the traditional round bullet.

Bullet points

A bullet point is a symbol you typically see before a list of items. In English, the bullet symbol (•) is usually displayed in your word processor as a rounded, larger dot, either black or hollow, depending on the selected font. It can even be square or diamond-shaped.

Apple defines the bullet as a distinct symbol from both the period and interpunct. The bullet point is often represented by the Unicode symbol “●”, which is essentially a black circle (see the Unicode table).

You can insert a bullet point using its keyboard shortcut:

English layout keyboard: Alt + 8

If the shortcut doesn’t work, you can try opening the Apple menu and then selecting System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources. If needed, click Add New Keyboard Layout. From the pop-up window, select a layout that supports the bullet point. Close the preferences window and return to the document.

Alternatively, you can type the bullet point by inserting it manually. Open the character viewer by clicking the flag icon in the upper right corner of your screen. If the character viewer doesn’t show the bullet, you can search for it by typing “bullet” or “●”. Once located, click the bullet point to add it to your text.

Interpunct

An interpunct is a symbol you’ll encounter primarily in languages like Catalan and Occitan, where it’s used as a multiplication sign. Sometimes it’s also used as a separator between graphemes (like in Occitan) or part of ela geminada in Catalan. Otherwise, it’s a center-pointed dot used within a text string to indicate the absence of a space. For example, “15 · 2” could mean 15 multiplied by 2.

In general, the interpunct is simply a center-pointed dot. Its purpose is different than that of the period. While the period ends a sentence, it can also serve as a separator between hours and minutes, a punctuation style choice (not necessarily a hard-and-fast editorial rule). In any event, the shape of the period changes with the typeface: sometimes rounded, sometimes rectangular, or rhomboid. A rhomboid period is more common in older books and manuscripts; it gives off a more classical visual tone than a round one.

Period

The period is the most basic of all symbols, ending sentences in English. As with the interpunct, though, the shape of the period varies by typeface. The key thing to remember is that while it looks like a small dot, it can still serve a very important function in how the text is perceived.

Two built-in macOS methods for accessing special dot symbols

You can choose between two different methods to insert the interpunct (·), period (.), and bullet (•) into your Mac document. The first method is the fastest method for accessing these special characters; the second uses an application-specific keyboard shortcut instead. Neither method requires you to install a new font, although there are several free and commercial options online if you prefer.

Type the character

One way to get to the interpunct, period, and bullet is by using the Mac OS character viewer. If you don’t have this open already, you can launch it from the Apple menu. Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen, and then choose “System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources.” Click on the plus sign (+) button next to the “Keyboard & Input Methods” section and choose the layout you want to switch to, and then click the “Done” button. Close the preferences window.

Now click the “flag” icon in the upper-right corner of your screen. If you don’t see the interpunct symbol listed in the character viewer, click the magnifying glass and search for it by typing in the term “bullet” or “·”. Select the appropriate character, and then double-click it to place it into your text.

The interpunct and the period appear side-by-side. The bullet may appear separately, depending on your settings.

You can also insert the interpunct, period, and bullet using another keyboard shortcut. However, this shortcut depends upon which keyboard language layout you’ve selected.

Use keyboard shortcuts to insert the interpunct, period, and bullet

Depending on what kind of keyboard layout you’ve selected, there are a couple of keyboard shortcuts available. If you’ve chosen a US/QWERTY layout, press the Option (⌥) key and the period key at the same time to insert the interpunct. Pressing the period key alone will produce a regular period.

For users who’ve chosen an Australian layout, press the Option key and the comma (,) key together to insert the interpunct. Pressing the comma alone produces a regular period.

To insert the interpunct, you need to use a special keyboard shortcut: the Option (⌥) and hyphen (-) keys pressed simultaneously. This keyboard shortcut works across most international keyboard layouts. The hyphen key is normally located above the Enter key.

Inserting the interpunct is easy, thanks to the fact that you can choose between three main types of keyboards: US (QWERTY), UK, and AU (which includes the number pad). If you’re not sure which layout your keyboard uses, just go to the Apple menu and click on System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources, then look at the keyboard image that appears in the bottom-right-hand corner of the preferences window.

Using the Mac OS Tahoe feature

The second method involves using the “Tahoe” functionality found in modern versions of macOS. Simply select the text where you’d like to insert the interpunct or bullet, right-click, and choose “Insert Special Character” from the contextual menu. Then choose “Character Viewer” from the dropdown list.

This method should be fairly straightforward, assuming that your computer is running a relatively recent version of macOS, since newer operating systems have been gradually moving away from the “Tahoe” approach.