How to Type an Em Dash on Any Keyboard

1. How to Type an Em Dash on a Mac (macOS)

Mac keyboards feature a fast, built-in native shortcut for the em dash:

1. Press and hold Option and Shift.
2. Press the hyphen key - (top right of the keyboard).
3. Release to type — instantly.

Tip: Pressing just Option + - types an en dash (–).

2. How to Type an Em Dash on Windows

Windows offers three different ways depending on your hardware:

• Numeric Keypad (Fastest): Hold Alt and type 0151 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.
• Windows Emoji & Symbol Picker: Press Win + . (period), click the Symbols (Ω) tab, and select General Punctuation to find the em dash.
• Word Auto-Format: In Microsoft Word, type two hyphens (--) between words without spaces, and Word automatically converts them to an em dash.

3. How to Type an Em Dash on iPhone & iPad (iOS)

1. Open the on-screen keyboard and switch to the numbers view (123).
2. Touch and hold the hyphen (-) key.
3. A popup menu appears showing three options: the hyphen (-), en dash (–), and em dash (—).
4. Slide your finger to the longest dash (—) on the right and release.

4. How to Type an Em Dash on Android (Gboard)

1. Tap the ?123 key to access numeric and symbol keys.
2. Long-press the hyphen (-) key.
3. Slide your finger to select the em dash (—) from the popup menu.

5. Google Docs & Word Smart Hyphen Auto-Replace

Both Google Docs and Microsoft Word support automatic em dash substitution. When you type word--word (two hyphens with no surrounding spaces) and press the spacebar, the software automatically transforms the double hyphen into an em dash.