# 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 on a Mac **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445 "2007-03-11T03:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stever65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@stever65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stever65)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/21 "2014-04-17T20:54:36Z")
Mac OS X.8.5 system prefs, keyboard, input sources, text, then check boxes next to fractions you want to activate. For instance, you type 1/2 and it automatically changes to smaller characters, 1/2 (but not in this program, apparently.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/22 "2014-04-17T21:09:18Z")
I started this thread seven years ago. Since then, I’ve switched to a MacBook Pro running OS 10.9.2 and I’ve noticed the fractions are formatted automatically. 🙂 If I type 1, /, 2, [space] here, it automatically changes to ½. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/23 "2014-04-18T04:51:21Z")
Yeah, it’s pretty much automatic now, you can still turn it off in preferences. Sometime in there (Mountain Lion?) Mac OS X made it easier to type accented characters, too – hold down the “e” key, for example, and instead of repeating, it’ll pop up a list of character accents with “e” as a base. (You can disable this with a system default if you never use accented characters, and go back to just repeating characters instead.) Way easier than memorizing alt+Unicode code points on Windows. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/24 "2014-04-18T05:06:55Z")
Where is the option? Not that I necessarily want to use it, but when I type 1/2 I get just that: 1/2. It doesn’t change. I’m OS X Mavericks, but I don’t remember it ever changing for me before, either. (And I looked in System Preference Keyboard \> Input Sources and I don’t seem to see it there. ETA: I should say that Word does it, but I seem to remember Word doing that in Windows, as well. That was an application-specific auto correction, like how it changes two hyphens into an em dash. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/25 "2014-04-18T16:18:36Z")
bnyjmujnbhbgvfcdxsz’;/.lk,jmhnbgfvcdsxzp;.’,l;oaz;/.L ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/26 "2014-04-18T16:28:22Z")
hmmm - **Piper Cub** ’s first post on the SDMB - I’m so proud! ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445/27 "2014-04-18T17:33:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Where is the option? Not that I necessarily want to use it, but when I type 1/2 I get just that: 1/2. It doesn’t change. I’m OS X Mavericks, but I don’t remember it ever changing for me before, either. (And I looked in System Preference Keyboard \> Input Sources and I don’t seem to see it there. Hmm, that’s weird. Prior to Mavericks, it used to be in Language/Region-\>Text (which is now in Keyboard-\>Text). It basically had a long list of auto-substituted fractions, which you could turn on and off. It’s done as part of the “automatically correct spelling” general option. My Mavericks system which was upgraded from a previous operating system still has that list, but a newer system that was installed with Mavericks on it does not. I wonder if they took it away? I didn’t notice because I usually use Word, which has its own mechanism. You can add back common fractions manually using the auto-correct feature, though: in the “Preferences-\>Keyboard-\>Text” tab, add a substitution for “1/2” on the left, and on the right use the Character palette to add the one half fraction, and it’ll be available globally after that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-4-1-2-3-4-on-a-mac/395445.md?page=1)