Letters with a Macron (ā ē ī ō ū): How to Type Them

The macron is the flat horizontal bar over a vowel: ā ē ī ō ū and their capitals Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū. None of these letters has a Windows Alt code.

On Windows, type the four-character hex value in Word (for example 0101 then press Alt+X) or use Character Map. On Mac, add a custom layout or use the Character Viewer, since the standard US keyboard has no dead key for the macron accent.

Click any character above to copy it. Below is every code for all ten macron letters, followed by step-by-step methods for each platform. If you type these often, an on-screen accent keyboard is faster than memorising values.

Macron letter codes: full reference table

Codes for macron letters a e i o u showing Unicode and Word Alt+X hex values for ā ē ī ō ū and capitals

The Alt code column reads “None” for every letter because the macron vowels sit outside both Windows Alt-code tables. Use the Word Alt+X value or the HTML entity instead. All Word codes below are hexadecimal: type the code, then press Alt+X to convert it.

Glyph	Name	Unicode	Windows Alt code	Word (Alt+X)	HTML
ā	Small a with macron	U+0101	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 0101 then Alt+X	0101 then Alt+X	`ā`
ē	Small e with macron	U+0113	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 0113 then Alt+X	0113 then Alt+X	`ē`
ī	Small i with macron	U+012B	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 012B then Alt+X	012B then Alt+X	`ī`
ō	Small o with macron	U+014D	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 014D then Alt+X	014D then Alt+X	`ō`
ū	Small u with macron	U+016B	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 016B then Alt+X	016B then Alt+X	`ū`
Ā	Capital A with macron	U+0100	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 0100 then Alt+X	0100 then Alt+X	`Ā`
Ē	Capital E with macron	U+0112	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 0112 then Alt+X	0112 then Alt+X	`Ē`
Ī	Capital I with macron	U+012A	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 012A then Alt+X	012A then Alt+X	`Ī`
Ō	Capital O with macron	U+014C	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 014C then Alt+X	014C then Alt+X	`Ō`
Ū	Capital U with macron	U+016A	No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 016A then Alt+X	016A then Alt+X	`Ū`

The uppercase and lowercase forms are separate Unicode characters with different code points. The capital of ā is Ā (U+0100), not the same character in a larger size.

If you copy a lowercase letter and change its case with a keyboard shortcut, most apps convert it correctly, but a few strip the macron. Check the result before you rely on it.

How the macron differs from other accent marks

The macron is a straight, level bar. That is the whole distinction.

It is not the same as the circumflex (â, a small peaked hat), nor the caron (ǎ, a downward wedge), nor the acute (á, a rising stroke). People searching for one often land on the wrong glyph because the marks look similar at small sizes.

Each macron vowel here is a single precomposed character. That matters: it is one code point that already includes the bar, not a plain vowel with a separate mark stacked on top. The difference between those two forms causes real problems in search and filenames, covered in the troubleshooting section below.

Type macron letters on Windows

There is no Alt code for these letters, so the numeric-keypad method that works for many accented characters does nothing here. You have two reliable routes.

Open Character Map (search for it in the Start menu).
Set the font to one that has the glyphs, such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman.
Tick Advanced view, then type the name (for example “latin small letter a with macron”) or the code point 0101 in the Go-to box.
Click the character, click Select, then Copy, and paste where you need it.

For anything longer than one character, the emoji and symbol panel (Win + .) has a symbols tab, but its coverage of Latin extended letters is patchy. Character Map is the dependable option on Windows.

If you need macrons regularly, install the United States-International keyboard layout. It does not have a dedicated macron dead key, so the fastest permanent fix on Windows is the Word AutoCorrect trick described in the Word section.

Type macron letters on Mac

The standard US Mac layout has no Option combination for the macron, so holding a key like you would for é does not produce ā. Use one of these.

Open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space.
Search for “macron” or paste a code point like 0101 into the search box.
Double-click the letter to insert it.

For frequent use, add the ABC Extended keyboard in System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources. With it active, press Option + A (which shows a macron dead key), release, then type the vowel. This gives ā, ē, ī, ō, ū directly, and Shift gives the capitals.

Type macron letters in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook

Word has the cleanest method on Windows. Type the hex code, then press Alt+X and it converts in place.

Type the four-character code: 0101 for ā, 014D for ō, 016A for Ū, and so on from the table.
With the cursor right after the code, press Alt + X. The code becomes the letter.
To reverse it, place the cursor after the letter and press Alt+X again to see its code.

Alt+X works in Word, Outlook, and OneNote. It does not work in PowerPoint or Excel.

In PowerPoint, use Insert → Symbol, set the subset to Latin Extended-A, and pick the letter. The same Insert → Symbol route also works in Word if you prefer clicking to codes.

For repeated use, set up AutoCorrect: go to File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options, and map a trigger like a- to ā. After that you type the shortcut and Word swaps in the macron letter automatically.

Type macron letters in Excel and Google Sheets

Excel has no Alt+X. Use the UNICHAR function with the decimal value: =UNICHAR(257) returns ā, =UNICHAR(333) returns ō. Take the decimal number from the HTML entity column (the digits between &# and ;). You can also paste from Character Map, or use Insert → Symbol.

Google Sheets has no Insert Symbol menu. Use =UNICHAR(257) the same way, or type the letter elsewhere and paste it into the cell. To use any OS-level input method inside a cell, press F2 first to enter edit mode.

Type macron letters in Google Docs

Go to Insert → Special characters.
Search “macron”, or draw the accent bar in the sketch box to filter results.
Click the letter to drop it in at the cursor.

Google Docs has no Alt+X and no Alt-code support, so Special characters is the built-in route. For repeat use, open Tools → Preferences → Substitutions and add your own text-replacement pairs.

Type macron letters on iPhone and Android

Both phone keyboards use press-and-hold. Tap and hold the base vowel, and a small row of accented options pops up.

The macron appears in that pop-up for some languages but not all. If you do not see ā when you hold a, add a language keyboard that uses macrons (Māori is the common one) in your keyboard settings.

On iPhone that is Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards; on Android it is under System → Languages & input. The fastest permanent fix on either phone is a text replacement: map aa to ā and let autocorrect expand it.

Type macron letters on Chromebook

ChromeOS has no Alt codes. Use the Unicode shortcut instead.

Hold Ctrl + Shift + U. An underlined u appears.
Type the hex code without any prefix: 0101 for ā, 014c for Ō.
Press Enter or Space to confirm.

Some web forms grab this shortcut before ChromeOS can. If nothing appears, use the symbol picker at Launcher + Shift + Space (or the Quick Insert key on newer models), or paste the letter from the copy buttons at the top of this page.

Type macron letters in Notion, Slack, Discord, and Canva

None of these apps has a native macron shortcut. The reliable move is to paste the letter, then make it repeatable.

Notion: paste directly, or set a system-level text replacement your OS applies inside Notion.
Slack: paste it. Slack’s :shortcode: system covers emoji, not accented letters, so a text replacement in your OS settings is the shortcut to build.
Discord: paste it. Same as Slack, no built-in accent input.
Canva: paste into any text box. Canva keeps the character as long as the chosen font includes the glyph. If the macron vanishes, switch to a font that supports Latin Extended-A.

Macron letters in HTML and CSS

Use the numeric HTML entities from the table: ā for ā, ō for ō, Ā for Ā. There are no short named entities like ° for these letters, so the numeric form is the one to use.

In a UTF-8 page you can also paste the raw character straight into the source. For CSS content values, use the hex escape, for example content: "\0101";.

Troubleshooting macron letters

The letter shows as a box or question mark

The font lacks the glyph. Older or decorative fonts often omit Latin Extended-A. Switch to Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Segoe UI, or a Google Font that lists extended Latin support, and the box (□) or missing-glyph marker disappears.

The macron looks like a different accent

At small sizes a macron (ā) can be mistaken for a straight-quote diacritic or a caron. Confirm by checking the code point: it should be U+0101 for ā, not one of the caron or breve characters. If you copied from a page that used the wrong mark, re-copy from the buttons above.

Search and filenames do not match

This is the normalization trap. The letter ā can exist as one code point (U+0101, precomposed) or as a plain a followed by a separate combining macron (U+0304). They look identical on screen but count as different text.

A search for one may not find the other, and a filename typed one way may not match a reference typed the other way. If a search keeps failing, retype the term using the copy buttons here, which give the single precomposed characters.

Alt codes do nothing

They are supposed to. There is no Windows Alt code for any macron vowel, so typing a number on the keypad will produce the wrong character or nothing.

Use the Word Alt+X method or Character Map instead. See our complete guide to typing accented letters for the full picture on which characters have Alt codes and which do not.

Where macron letters are used

Macron vowels appear in Māori, Latin teaching texts marking long vowels, Japanese romanisation (Tōkyō, Ōsaka), Hawaiian, and phonetic and dictionary notation. If you are transcribing any of these, you will need the full set, capitals included, which is why every variant is listed in the table above.

Related symbols and guides

These accent marks are the ones most often confused with the macron:

Circumflex letters (â ê î ô û) — a small peaked hat, not a flat bar.
Caron / háček letters (č š ž) — a downward wedge, the mirror of a circumflex.
Letters with a cedilla (ç) — a hook that hangs below the letter rather than above it.
Diaeresis vs umlaut, the two-dot mark, and why the same dots mean two different things.

For every accent method in one place, see the complete accented letters guide, browse more accented-letter guides, or type any character directly with the accent keyboard tool.

Frequently asked questions

Why is there no Alt code for ā or ō?

Windows Alt codes cover two legacy character tables, and the macron vowels are not in either one. They live in the Latin Extended-A block, which the Alt-code system never mapped. That is why you have to use Word’s Alt+X, Character Map, or the Chromebook Ctrl+Shift+U method instead.

What is the difference between a macron and a long-vowel line in dictionaries?

They are the same mark. The horizontal bar dictionaries print over a vowel to show it is long is a macron. In digital text it is the U+0304 combining mark, or the precomposed letters like U+0101 listed here.

How do I type a macron over a letter that is not a vowel?

Type the base letter, then add the combining macron U+0304 immediately after it. In Word, type the letter, then 0304, then press Alt+X. This stacks the bar on any letter, though rendering quality depends on the font.

Why does my macron letter lose its bar when I paste into another app?

The destination font does not include the glyph, so the app either drops the accent or shows a box. Change the text to a font with Latin Extended-A support. This is common in Canva and some Slack channels using restricted fonts.

Can I get macron letters without changing my keyboard layout?

Yes. Copy them from the buttons at the top of this page, use Character Map on Windows, the Character Viewer on Mac, or Insert → Special characters in Google Docs.

None of these needs a layout change. Only the press-and-hold and dead-key methods require a specific keyboard.

Why won’t my file search find a word with ā in it?

The stored text and your search term probably use different Unicode forms of the same letter, one precomposed and one combining. They display identically but do not match byte for byte. Retype the search using the precomposed character from this page, or normalise the file’s text to a single form.

Do the uppercase macron letters have separate codes?

Yes. Ā is U+0100 and ā is U+0101, two distinct characters. Every capital in the table has its own code point, its own Word Alt+X value, and its own HTML entity, separate from the lowercase form.