How to Type an Ellipsis on a Mac (Keyboard Shortcut)

Type an Ellipsis on a Mac

Want to leave something out, and do it in style? Find out here how to type a true ellipsis character ( … ) on a Mac using a keyboard shortcut or text replacement (instead of simply three dots).

First, Fabric Samples Run up and down the Freeway

Famously low on cash, Lamborghini could not afford an artificial wind tunnel for optimizing air flow around their latest car sometime in the early 1970s, so they went for real wind instead (and a few tunnels as well, I guess).

The engineers glued strips of fabric samples all over a prototype, which they then ran that up and down the highway, carefully taking pictures from the side.

So the story goes. In any event, the resulting Countach is, one might argue, more visually stunning than aerodynamically impressive.

Now, do you want to leave something out, too, and still get stylishly stunning results? Enter the ellipsis:

How to Type an Ellipsis ( … ) on a Mac

On a PC? How to enter ellipses using Windows

Using the Mac Ellipsis Keyboard Shortcut

Time needed: 1 minute

To enter an ellipsis character () on a Mac using the macOS keyboard

  1. Position the text cursor where you want to insert the ellipsis.

    Where to put it: Spacing around ellipses is a matter of preference.
    The AP Stylebook regards the ellipsis as a stand-in for at least one word—and treats it as such, with one whitespace character on either side (except when a punctuation mark follows or precedes it). The Chicago Manual of Style instead opts to handle the ellipsis like the em-dash, as a punctuation mark itself with no space on either side (unlike on this site, for instance).

  2. Press Option ; to insert the ellipse using the U.S.-English keyboard layout.

    Other layouts: The same Option ; combination also works for the U.K. English and Dvorak layouts.
    International keyboards: You can find the key for your layout using the macOS on-screen keyboard viewer.
    Text replacement: You can have macOS insert ellipses automatically; see below.

Using Automatic Text Replacement

To have macOS replace three dots with an ellipsis automatically:

  1. Open the Edit menu in the application where you will be typing.
  2. Select Substitutions | Show Substitutions.
  3. Check Smart Dashes.
    Shortcut: Smart Dashes can also be enabled right in the Substitutions menu.
    Context menu: The Substitutions menu is also available when you right-click in the text area.
    Standard macOS only: Substitutions are available only for standard macOS text editing; in applications that do their own text editing (such as Firefox, for instance), use direct keyboard input as above.
  4. Type ... (three dots) followed by any other character to have macOS replace them with an ellipsis character ().

How to Type an Ellipsis ( … ) on a Mac: FAQ

Can’t I just copy and paste the ellipsis character?

Yes, of course you can.

Here’s an ellipsis (Unicode U+2026) for you to first easily copy and then smartly paste:

Ellipsis

(How to type an ellipsis on a Mac using a keyboard shortcut tested with macOS Sonoma 14.3, Ventura 13.3, macOS Monterey 12.0, and Big Sur 11.0; updated March 2024)

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