How to Create Legal Symbols Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Lawyers and their staff spend a lot of time creating documents with symbols that can’t be found on standard keyboards without keyboard shortcuts. Below is a list of commonly used symbols and their shortcuts on Windows and Mac.

Symbol	Symbol Name	Windows Shortcut	Mac Shortcut
§	Section	Alt + 0167	⌥ + 6
¶	Paragraph	Alt + 0182	⌥ + 7
©	Copyright	Alt + 0169	⌥ + G
™	Trademark	Alt + 0153	⌥ + 2
®	Registered Trademark	Alt + 0174	⌥ + R
π	Plaintiff (Pi)	Alt + 227	⌥ + P
∆	Defendant (Delta)	Alt + 30	⌥ + J
—	Em Dash	Alt + 0151	⌥ + ⇧ + –
–	En Dash	Alt + 0150	⌥ + –

To use these keyboard shortcuts on a Windows computer, you will need to make sure that your keyboard has a Numpad and the Num Lock is on. Alt codes will not work without Num Lock, and the number keys at the top of your keyboard will not register when typing these codes in.

After turning on Num Lock, hold down your Alt key and press the numbers on your keyboard’s Numpad in the correct sequence. When you lift your finger off the Alt key, the symbol you wish to insert will appear.

If you’re using a Mac, you have things a little easier than Windows users. All you have to do to insert these symbols is hold down the modifier key and press the corresponding character to insert the symbol you want.

If you don’t know which modifier keys are which on Mac, that’s okay. This quick reference will help you:

Modifier Key Symbol	Modifier Key Name
⌘	Command
⇧	Shift
⌥	Option
⌃	Control
fn	Function
⇪	Caps Lock

Taking the time to memorize and type those Windows Alt codes or Mac keyboard shortcuts is a waste of time. And if you use a PC without a Numpad, it may be impossible to use Alt codes.

If these keyboard shortcuts were the only option, it would be annoying, but you’d have to bear with it.

Fortunately, many of the tools you use every day allow you to add personalized keyboard shortcuts that are easier to remember and type in.

Below you’ll find guides to making your own shortcuts or text replacement phrases in Word and on Mac, iPhone, and Andriod phones and tablets.

How to Create Legal Symbol Shortcuts in Microsoft Word

There are no systemwide options for creating text replacement shortcuts in Windows, but you can add custom shortcuts to Microsoft Word.

These shortcuts can help you save time by creating simple 2- or 3-key combinations for symbols (like Apple’s shortcuts) instead of relying on long Alt codes.

To set up a keyboard shortcut in Microsoft Word, open a document then:

1. Click on the “Insert” tab on the Ribbon at the top of the document.

2. Click on “Symbol → More Symbols.” This will open the symbols dialogue box.

3. Find and select the character you want to create a shortcut for. Then click on the “Shortcut Key” button at the bottom of the dialogue box.

4. In the next dialogue box that opens, place your cursor in the “Press new shortcut key” box and type in the key combination you want to use to trigger your shortcut.

Be sure you do not set your new keyboard shortcut to a combination that Word already uses for important functions like copying, pasting, or saving. You may have seen “Ctrl + S” used as an example shortcut in other walkthroughs. This will overwrite the shortcut to save your document manually.

5. Press the “Assign” button to save your new keyboard shortcut. Then press the “Close” button.

You can use this complete list of Word shortcuts from Microsoft to see what combinations are not in use and even learn some handy new shortcuts to speed up your work.

Creating Shortcuts on Mac with Text Replacement

Using a Mac, you can set up text replacement shortcuts that function like autocorrect on your phone.

Once you have a shortcut set up, all you have to do is type in your trigger phrase, and your computer will automatically correct it to the symbol or phrase assigned to that trigger.

To set up a text replacement on Mac:

1. Open your System Preferences. The easiest way to do this is by pressing ⌘ + Space to open Spotlight Search. Then type in “System Preferences” and hit enter.

Alternatively, you can access System Preferences through the Apple menu in the left corner of your menu bar at the top of your screen.

2. Click “Keyboard.”

3. Click “Text.”

4. Click the “+” button to add your text replacement.

5. Type your trigger word into the “Replace” column.

We recommend using a short trigger phrase that you can easily remember and combining it with a letter that isn’t used frequently, like “z.”

6. Hit the Tab key, then type or paste the symbol or phrase you want to insert into the “With” column.

7. Click anywhere on your screen to set the text replacement shortcut.

If you used the same trigger phrase as the example above, when you type in “zsect,” your computer should automatically replace that trigger with the § symbol.

Setting up text replacement is useful for more than just legal symbols, too. You could even use it to insert frequently used phrases by typing in an acronym. For example, the image above shows that “omw” will autocorrect to “On my way.”

Note: While the text replacement shortcuts are supposed to work in any application, some of them will ignore the correction.

If this happens to you, all you need to do is press “⌘ + Space” to open Spotlight Search, then type your trigger phrase. You can copy the replacement text from Spotlight Search and paste it into the document or text field you were working in.

How to Create Legal Symbol Shortcuts on an iPhone

Setting up text replacement on an iPhone is similar to doing it on Mac. There’s an added benefit, too. As long as you are signed into both devices with your Apple ID, any text replacements you create on one device carry over to the other.

To set up a text replacement on iPhone:

1. Open your Settings app and tap “General.”

2. Tap “Keyboard.”

3. Tap “Text Replacement.”

4. Tap the “+” button to add a new text replacement.

5. In the “Phrase” field, add the symbol you want to replace text with. You can copy any of the symbols from our list at the top of this article and paste them into the “Phrase” field.

6. Type your trigger phrase into the “Shortcut” field. We recommend using a short, memorable trigger phrase combined with a letter you don’t often use, like “z.”

7. Tap “Save” to save your new text replacement shortcut.

Now, any time you type your trigger phrase, your iPhone will automatically replace it with the symbol you set up as your replacement text. This functions identically to the default iPhone autocorrect feature.

Creating Shortcuts on Android Phones and Tablets

If you’re using Gboard, the default Google Keyboard, you can add text replacement snippets by following these steps:

1. Go to Settings → System → Language & Input → Virtual Keyboard.
2. Select “Gboard.” If you are not already using it, this will set Gboard as your default keyboard.
3. Select “Dictionary,”

 4. Select “Personal Dictionary.”

5. Select your language.

6. Select the “+” icon.

7. Type or paste the symbol or phrase you want to set as your replacement text. Then type your shortcut phrase.

Now, when you type in your shortcut, your Android device should autocorrect it to the symbol or phrase you added.

Android users also have the option to download alternative keyboards, such as SwiftKey, from an app store. These alternate keyboards may also offer the option to add text replacement options.

Setting up personalized text replacements on Android can be harder than on an iPhone. Different manufacturers may use different default keyboards or “flavors” of the Android operating system, meaning there are almost as many ways to set up shortcuts as phone models.

Other Options for Creating Legal Keyboard Shortcuts

For the most part, setting up shortcuts for legal symbols using the steps above should be enough to speed up your workflow.

Text replacement should work almost anywhere you type if your primary computer is a Mac. Replacement features on phones work in any application on the device.

But when it comes to Windows, you may want to consider additional text replacement options. Word allows users to set up custom shortcuts, but if you’re typing anywhere else, the shortcut won’t work.

Tools like TextExpander, PhraseExpress, and FastKeys allow you to create text replacement shortcuts that work across the different programs on your PC. These shortcuts also sync with cloud services so that multidevice users can access their replacement snippets on different machines.

Keyboard Shortcut for Section Symbol (§)

On Windows

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Turn on Num Lock by pressing the Num Lock key.
3. Hold down the Alt key.
4. While holding down the Alt key, press the following Numpad keys in succession: 0167.
5. Release the Alt key.

On Mac

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Press the Option key (⌥) and the 6 key at the same time.

Keyboard Shortcut for Copyright Symbol (©)

On Windows

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Turn on Num Lock by pressing the Num Lock key.
3. Hold down the Alt key.
4. While holding down the Alt key, press the following Numpad keys in succession: 0169.
5. Release the Alt key.

On Mac

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Press the Option key (⌥) and the G key at the same time.

Keyboard Shortcut for Trademark Symbol (™)

On Windows

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Turn on Num Lock by pressing the Num Lock key.
3. Hold down the Alt key.
4. While holding down the Alt key, press the following Numpad keys in succession: 0153.
5. Release the Alt key.

On Mac

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Press the Option key (⌥) and the 2 key at the same time.

Keyboard Shortcut for Registered Trademark Symbol (®)

On Windows

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Turn on Num Lock by pressing the Num Lock key.
3. Hold down the Alt key.
4. While holding down the Alt key, press the following Numpad keys in succession: 0174.
5. Release the Alt key.

On Mac

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.
2. Press the Option key (⌥) and the R key at the same time.