Quotes & Accents
A Library of Typographic Characters & Punctuation
We all need to use them but hardly any of us know how to type them. This is a library of typographic quotes, accented characters, and punctuation marks. Hover over characters to see keyboard shortcuts for typing them. Instructions will automatically adjust based on your operating system. If you use a non-English keyboard, you probably already know how to find all the accented characters you need. On a Mac, you can also access special characters by pressing Command + Control + Space to open the Character Viewer.
Quotation Marks
These are smart quotes, also known as “curly quotes”. Don’t use dumb quotes (' ") for quotations or apostrophes—the nerds will revolt. They’re also not the same as “prime marks”, which are a slightly slanty version of dumb quotes, used for feet/inches and seconds/minutes. Angled quotes (« ») are called guillemets and are used as quotation marks in French, Russian, and some other languages, or for nested quotes in English typography. Hover over characters below to see keyboard shortcuts.
Accented: Western European
Accented characters used in Western European languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German.
Accented: Central European
Accented characters used in Central European languages including Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian.
Accented: Eastern European
Characters used in Eastern European languages including Romanian and Croatian.
Accented: Nordic & Baltic
Accented characters used in Nordic languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic) and Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian).
Accented: Turkish
Special characters used in Turkish including the dotless i (ı) and dotted I (İ).
Greek Characters
Accents & Diacritics
Accent marks and diacritics that can be used independently or combined with letters.
Punctuation & Typography
Special typographic punctuation marks for professional typesetting.
Dashes & Lines
There are more kinds of dashes than those mentioned here but these are the ones you're most likely to use and confuse:
- A hyphen: -
You know how to make this. Used to break single words into parts (like when lines of type break within a word) or to join separate words into single words.
Example: I love me some hand-lettering.
- An en dash: – (Option + -)
Used in dates to replace “to” or “and”. It can also be used to illustrate the relationship between two different words.
Example: I went to art school from 2002–2006. Mother–daughter beauty pageants make me uncomfortable.
- An em dash: — (Option + Shift + -)
For a break of thought similar to but stronger than a thought contained within parentheses.
Example: I had to use the bus station bathroom—horrifying.
Brackets & Braces
Bracket and brace characters for mathematical notation, typography, and more.
