After spending years using Windows, you decided to buy your first Mac and, therefore, to take your first steps into the world of Apple-branded computers. So far you haven’t encountered any particular problems and, all in all, you got used to the new operating system quite quickly. The only difficulty, if we want to call it so, is that you have not yet understood how to make the “snail”, the one that is used in email addresses (and not only).
Excuse me? That’s exactly how things are and you would like to know if I can give you a hand on what to do? Of course you can, of course you can! That’s exactly why I’m here! If you give me a few minutes of your precious free time, I can show you, in a simple but not insignificant way, how to do the snail on Mac.
I can already tell you that the procedure differs slightly depending on the layout used for the keyboard and that, in addition to using the keyboard physically connected to your computer, you can also succeed in your intent by taking advantage of special features offered by macOS. Now, however, enough chatting and let’s get down to business. I wish you, as usual, good reading and I wish you the best of luck in everything!
How to make the snail on Mac keyboard
Although it may seem the opposite, doing the snail on your Mac keyboard is actually a fairly simple task to accomplish. In fact, if the one you’re using in conjunction with your computer is a keyboard with an Italian layout, all you have to do is type the key combination: ? (option/alt) + @ (snail).
You can use either the left or the right option/alt key on your Mac keyboard, it makes no difference. Please note that you can easily recognize the @ key because it is located on the right-hand side and is also marked with the letters ò and ç.
Then, the snail symbol will be immediately placed in the foreground application window.
Keep in mind that the key combination I mentioned earlier for doing snail on Mac is valid for practically any Apple computer model. So, you can use it to do snail on a MacBook, to do snail on a Mac Pro, etc.
How to make the snail on Mac English keyboard
If, however, in combination with your Apple computer you are using an English keyboard, the keys that you must press to succeed in your intent are different from those I have reported in the previous lines, valid for the Italian keyboard. To be able to do the snail on a Mac with an English keyboard, in fact, you must use the following key combination: ? (shift) + @ (snail).
You can use either the left or the right shift key. In addition, the @ key is easily recognizable as it is located at the top and also marked with the number 2 and the € (euro) symbol.
Again, after using the above combination, the snail symbol will immediately appear in the application window that is in the foreground.
As you can easily guess, the same combination can also be used to do the snail on an American Mac. Keep in mind that, as seen for the keyboard with Italian layout, also the combination in question allows you to type the snail on any model of Mac, fixed or portable.
How to make snail on Spanish keyboard Mac
Wondering how to do Spanish keyboard snail on Mac? No problem, I can explain you how to do that too. You must always use a special key combination, more precisely this one: ? (option/alt) + @ (snail).
You can use either the left or the right option/alt key, it makes no difference. Also, you can easily recognize the @ key because it is located at the top and also marked with the number 2 and the ” (quotation mark)” symbol.
Even in the case of the Spanish keyboard layout, after using the key combination I just mentioned, you’ll see the snail symbol appear instantly in the application window in the foreground.
Other solutions to do the snail on Mac
The keys that are useful for typing the snail on the Mac have begun to act up and you can’t use them, so you’d like to see if there is an alternative way to do this? Then read the instructions in the following steps.
In fact, below you will find indicated other solutions to do the snail on Mac that you can consider putting into practice, in case your physical keyboard is broken or you have some difficulty in using it.
Virtual keyboard
You probably didn’t know it, but on macOS there is a virtual keyboard that can be used in a manner practically analogous to the physical one, therefore also to type the snail, but replacing the “real” pressure of the keys with the click of the mouse on the same visible on the computer screen.
To call up the virtual keyboard, so that you can use it for your purpose, click on the System Preferences icon (the one with the gear wheel) that you find on the macOS Dock bar and, in the window that will later appear on your desktop, click on the Keyboard item. Next, check the box next to the heading Show keyboard viewers and emoji in the menu bar.
Now, click on the icon with the keyboard and ? symbol that has been added to the top-right part of the menu bar and select the Show Keyboard Viewer option. After doing that, you will see a virtual keyboard appear directly on your Mac’s desktop.
Now bring up the application window where you want to insert the @ symbol and click where you want to enter the @ symbol, then press the ? (option/alt) key and then click on the @ key that will appear instead of the ò key.
Obviously, keep in mind that the key combination to press varies according to the layout set for the keyboard. The key combination that I have just mentioned, in fact, is the one related to the keyboard with Italian layout, as I have explained in the step at the beginning of this guide. For the English/American layout and the Spanish layout, on the other hand, you need to refer to the further specific indications that I have provided in the dedicated steps at the beginning of this post.
Emoji and symbols
Another way to do the snail on Mac is to resort to the use of the Emoji and Symbols tool, which allows you to easily insert emoji and various symbols on macOS.
To invoke it, first bring up the application window where you want to insert the snail and click where you want to enter the symbol, then click on the Edit menu located in the upper left part of the menu bar and select the Emoji and Symbols item. If you prefer keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly call up the Emoji and Symbols tool using the following key combination: ? (ctrl) + ? (command/alt) + space bar.
In the window that now appears on the screen, click on the icon with the keyboard and the ? symbol at the top right, select Punctuation from the menu that appears on the left and double-click on the @ symbol (the snail) on the right. How much simpler could it be?