Help:Macrons

A macron is a diacritic ¯ placed over a vowel originally to indicate that the vowel is long. When editing a Wikipedia page, macron characters appear below the edit box, and can be inserted into the edit box by clicking the appropriate character (in java script enabled browsers). A macron can also be input directly from the keyboard.

Mac OS X

This will work in Panther (10.3), Tiger (10.4), Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), and Yosemite (10.10). It is unverified in prior versions.

1. First, enable the U.S. Extended keyboard layout.
   1. To do this, open System Preferences by clicking the apple logo in the upper left hand corner of your screen and then clicking "System Preferences…" or the method that you prefer to open System Preferences.
   2. Open Keyboard by clicking the icon in the System Preferences labeled "Keyboard."
   3. Switch to the Input Sources section by clicking on the "Input Sources" button near the top of the window.
   4. Scroll down to the layout labeled U.S. extended and click the check-box next to it. The U.S. Extended layout has now been enabled, in addition to any keyboard layouts which had previously been enabled.
   5. Note: In Mavericks (10.9), once you are on the Input Sources section, you may have to do the following: 1. Click the "+" button in the lower left corner; a drop-down panel appears. 2. In the left column, select English as the language. 3. The scrolling list on the right lists input sources for the English language; scroll down and select U.S. Extended. 4. Click the Add button to add this input source; its icon is an American flag with a white "U" in a black square below the flag.
   6. Note: The U.S. Extended option in El Capitan (10.11.1) has been renamed to ABC Extended. Upon adding this option, it's best to logout or restart your computer. In the upper right hand corner you will see a flag (between the volume symbol and the day/time); this is where the keyboard input options menu is located.
   7. Once the U.S. Extended layout is enabled, it will always remain enabled, but not necessarily active. To quickly switch between the U.S. Extended layout and other keyboard layouts, make sure the "Show input menu in menu bar" check-box at the bottom of the window is checked. A new icon should appear in your menu bar when this box is checked.
2. Next, switch to the U.S. Extended keyboard layout.
   1. Click the input menu icon (which was enabled in the previous step) in your menu bar.
   2. Select "U.S. Extended" from your list. U.S Extended has now been activated.
3. Finally, enter the letter to bear a macron from the keyboard.
   1. First type option-a (this means to hold down the "option" key and then press "a").
   2. Type in the letter you wish to place a macron above. Congratulations! You have now typed in a letter bearing a macron.

Note that not every character is defined with a macron; in El Capitan (10.11.6), ā works, but ¯x does not.

Windows

For Windows XP

1. Download and install this free keyboard layout.
   1. Click the above link to download it.
      1. If asked what to do with, choose "Save to Disk."
   2. Unzip the file.
      1. To do this, navigate to the "AltLatNT.zip" file you just downloaded, right-click it, and select "Extract Here" from the list. A folder titled "AltLatin_Win" should appear.
      2. Open the folder "AltLatin_Win," then open up the folder "AltLatin," and finally open up the installer "AltLatin.msi." After a few seconds a window will appear informing you that the installation is complete. If this window does not appear, you may have run "AltLatin.msi" without extracting it from the zip archive.
2. Make Alt-Latin your default keyboard layout using the "Regional and Language Options" control panel then restart your computer.
   1. Click the "start" menu icon button which is most likely in the bottom left hand corner of your screen. From this menu select "Control Panel." From the control panels, open the "Regional and Language Options"
   2. In the "Regional and Language Options" click the "Languages" tab then click the "Details…" button.
   3. From the "Settings" tab of the "Text Services and Input Languages" window, click the "Add…" Button.
   4. From the "Add Input Language" window make sure the "Keyboard layout/IME" check-box is checked.
   5. From the "Keyboard layout/IME" popup menu select "Alt-Latin" and click the "OK" button.
   6. Back in the "Text Services and Input Languages" window, in the "Default input languages" section, click the popup menu and click "English (United States) - Alt-Latin" in the list. Alt-Latin in now your default keyboard layout.
   7. Click the "Advanced" tab. From this tab make sure that "Turn off advanced text services" is unchecked. If it is checked, uncheck it now.
   8. Restart your computer.
   1. To restart, open the start menu and select "Turn Off Computer," then click "Restart."
   9. A language bar should appear. It should read "Alt-Latin." If it does not read "Alt-Latin" then you did not make it your default layout and will need to repeat section II.
3. Pressing the right Alt key (often marked AltGr) before a vowel places a macron above it.
   Hold down the right "Alt" (AltGr) key. While still holding down on the right "alt" key, press the "a" key on your keyboard. Release all keys.
   1. Now the next vowel you type in will have a macron placed above it.