Digitating brackets on pc and Mac is easy, but sometimes it takes a long process: here's how to do it and all the options.
If you're not a mathematician or a fan of equations, you will have rarely needed brackets on your pc keyboard. However, online classes, homework assignments for increasingly digital kids, or even simple curiosity may have led you to wonder, at least once in your life, how to do brackets on a PC. Unlike round and square brackets, curly brackets do not appear on keyboards. This is because, as we have said before, they are not used very much in word processing programs like Word.
The simplest solution that may come to mind when you need the bracket is to look for it in the special symbols. The procedure in Word is quite long: you have to follow the path Insert > Insert Symbol and then search among the hundreds of symbols for the one you need and finally press ok. However, there are much easier ways to insert this symbol directly from the keyboard. In this article we will explain in a simple and clear way how to make the bracket on the pc.
Parenthesis on pc: how to do it
Normal pc's, as we said before, do not have the bracket symbol on the keyboard. How can you insert it? Just type a very simple key combination: AltGr (to the right of the space bar) +Shift (key with the up arrow) + key with square brackets.
At first, the combination may seem a bit difficult, but if you use it a few times, you will memorize it without any problems. With the thumb of your right hand, press AltGr, with the index finger of the same hand press [ and with the left hand press Shift. If you are used to pressing keys with all ten fingers, you can use only one hand. With your thumb press AltGr, with your ring finger press Shift right and with your middle finger press the bracket.
Parenthesis bracket on Mac: how to do it
Let's see now how to do the bracket on Mac. Apple products have always been considered the most technological and advanced, but you will be surprised to know that they are also easier to use than products with other operating systems. In fact, on a Mac, whether portable or desktop, all you have to do is press Alt (either right or left) + Shift +[ or Alt + Shift + ].
Another piece of information that may be useful to you is to know how to enter the curly bracket on the English keyboard. In fact, it may happen that your computer has the English keyboard as its factory setting. You can see this because the word ENG appears in the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. If you want to practice with this type of keyboard, then you should know that the curly bracket is obtained by pressing the Shift key + the square bracket key. This is because, if you take a look at an American physical keyboard, you'll notice that the bracket symbol is located right in the same key as the square bracket, but at the top. Just as we use Shift + 8 to open a round bracket (clearly visible in the key above the number 8), so on an American computer we can use Shift +[ to open a bracket on the keyboard.