Documentation/How Tos/Inserting En and Em Dashes with Keyboard

The Apache OpenOffice help describes two ways to enter en and em dashes: using the Replace dashes option under Tools → AutoCorrect Options and through the Insert → Special Characters menu (selecting the U+2013 or U+2014 character, respectively).

Many people prefer to use keyboard shortcuts, especially when copyediting.

The required shortcuts depend on your operating system.

You can also record macros to insert en and em dashes and assign those macros to unused key combinations, for example  Ctrl  +  ⇧ Shift  +  N  and  Ctrl  +  ⇧ Shift  +  M .

Windows

Hold down one of the  Alt  keys and type on the numeric keypad: 0150 for an en dash or 0151 for an em dash. The dash appears when you release the  Alt  key.

On a keyboard with no numeric keypad, use a  Fn  +  Function  key combination to type the numbers. (The  Fn  key is usually to the right of the left-hand  Ctrl  key on the keyboard.) For example, on a US keyboard layout, the combination for an en dash should be  Alt  +  Fn  +  mjim  and for an em dash it should be  Alt  +  Fn  +  mjij .

Linux

Hold down the  Compose  key and type two hyphens and a period for an en dash, or three hyphens for an em dash. The dash appears when you release the  Compose  key.

The key that operates as a  Compose  key varies with the Linux distribution. It is usually one of the  Alt  or  Win  keys, but may be another key, and should be user-selectable.

macOS

Hold down the  ⌥ Opt  ( Alt ) key and type a hyphen for an en dash. For an em dash, the combination is  ⇧ Shift  +  ⌥ Opt  +  Hyphen .