PopChar
PopChar is a character map and font tool for Mac and Windows. Find special characters and symbols by name, Unicode code or shape, and insert them directly into your apps.
Free trial, no account needed.
“I've been using PopChar since its early days and I simply love it. It redefined my work and is an absolute must-have for anyone serious about fonts, typography and design.”
Steve Wozniak
Apple Co-founder (photo by Michael Bulbenko)
Your fonts contain thousands of characters. Your keyboard gives you access to only a small part of them.
Press the PopChar shortcut in Word, InDesign, Outlook or your browser. Pick a character and it lands where your cursor is.
Compact mode keeps your favorites and recent characters at the top of a small window.
Choose a character and see how many of your installed fonts contain it, for example “In 177 of 294 font families”. Then compare it in 2 fonts side by side, with baseline and x-height guides.
Useful when you need a font that matches the rest of your text.
Find these special characters in PopChar and insert them into any app.
For breaks in a sentence, ranges and trailing pauses.
Degree sign, copyright sign and music notes for temperatures, copyright notices and music.
For names, places or words from other languages.
Infinity, not-equal and diameter signs for formulas, measurements and equations.
Type “arrow”, “euro” or “U+2192” and PopChar shows the matching characters, with Unicode code point and HTML entity.
Don't know its name? Sketch it, and the Shape Finder lists characters that look like it.
The built-in tools find a character by its name. PopChar also finds it by its shape and inserts it as HTML, code or image.
| PopChar Mac and Windows | Character Viewer Mac | Character Map Windows | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find a character by drawing it | Yes | No | No |
| Insert as HTML, code or image | Yes 9 formats | No | No |
| Compare 2 fonts side by side, with baseline and x-height lines | Yes | Partly Font Variation shows a grid without guides | No |
| See which of your fonts contain a character | Yes With a count | Partly Via Font Variation | No One font at a time |
| Platforms | Yes Mac and Windows, one license with Advanced and Business | Partly Mac only | Partly Windows only |
| Your own character names and layouts | Yes | Partly Favorites and a custom category list | No |
| Help and support | Yes Help Center, plus email support with Advanced and Business | Partly General macOS help | Partly General Windows help |
| Search characters by name | Yes | Yes | Yes In advanced view |
| Insert at the cursor in the active app | Yes | Yes | Partly Via copy and paste |
| Emoji | Yes With skin tones and flags by country name | Yes | Partly Via the separate emoji panel (Win + .) |
Alexander Falk
CEO, Altova Inc.
I used PopChar 15+ years ago on the Mac, but they now also have a Windows version, and it is just so much more powerful and useful than CharMap.
Rob D.
Artist · Capterra review
PopChar is always there accessible from my desktop when I need to find some rarely used type element.
Jim Cole
Jacksonville, FL
PopChar is so much easier to use than Apple's character viewer. It is a 'Mac Essential', the full-featured, well polished, champion of its class.
Charles Ying
founder of MyFonts.com
Using a Mac without PopChar is like driving a BMW only in first gear or playing a piano with one hand.
macnation.com
It's a must have for anyone who deals with fonts on a daily basis. There are many font utilities out there, but this one is the leader of the pack!
Thomas K.
Design · Capterra review
The programme PopChar is lean and does the job very well.
Jay J. Nelson
MacWorld
Anyone who works with foreign languages, scientific symbols, or frequently uses picture fonts will find PopChar quickly pays for itself.
William Busch
Searching for special characters was always a chore, and now I can set my favorites or search for something I hadn't needed until now.
Dom
So helpful when working with fonts. Easy to see if a font is available for all languages and symbols needed in my apps!
Advanced and Business cover Mac and Windows with one license. Try PopChar free before you buy.
One-time payment for the current major version. Private use only.
Subscription ideal for individuals. Private use only.
Subscription for professional use. Ideal for small businesses.
PopChar is a character map for Mac and Windows. You open it from any app, find a character by name, Unicode code or shape, and insert it where your cursor is.
PopChar was first released in 1987. Today it is developed by ergonis, an Austrian software company founded in 2002.
A character map is a tool that shows the characters of a font or of the whole Unicode standard, so you can find and insert the ones your keyboard doesn't have.
The Mac equivalent of Windows Character Map is the Character Viewer, which opens with Control + Command + Space.
PopChar is a character map for Mac and Windows that adds search by drawing, font comparison, your own character names and insert formats like HTML or image.
PopChar adds search by drawing, font comparison, custom layouts and 9 insert formats to what the built-in tools do. And one license covers Mac and Windows.
On a Mac you type special characters with Option key combinations or the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space).
On a US keyboard, Option + G gives © and Option + E followed by e gives é. For anything your keyboard doesn't cover, PopChar finds the character by name, code or shape and inserts it into your app.
On Windows you type special characters with Alt codes, the emoji panel (Win + .) or the Character Map app, which copies characters to the clipboard.
For example, Alt + 0169 on the number pad gives ©. PopChar opens from any app with a shortcut and inserts the character where your cursor is.
On a Mac, press Option + hyphen (–). On Windows, press Alt + 0150 on the numeric keypad. In PopChar, search for “en dash” and insert it with a double-click.
Draw it. PopChar's Shape Finder lists characters that look like the rough shape you sketch with your mouse or trackpad.
If you already have a similar character, select it and PopChar shows its look-alikes.
Yes. PopChar marks every installed font that contains the selected character and shows the count, for example “In 177 of 294 font families”.
You can also put the character in 2 fonts side by side to compare them.
PopChar is paid software with a free trial. Download it and try it before you buy.
Until you have an account, PopChar runs in trial mode. Many special characters are disabled, but you can test how PopChar works.
Yes, with the Advanced and Business plans. One license covers 3 devices, Mac and Windows in any mix.
The Basic plan is for one platform, Mac or Windows.
PopChar supports Unicode 18.0, including the latest emoji.
Try PopChar now and find out why so many users rely on it.
“An absolute must-have for anyone serious about fonts, typography and design.”