How to type Māori macrons on any device

This is how to type Māori macrons on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. On a phone you need nothing new: touch and hold the vowel and pick ā from the row that pops up. On Windows, add the Māori or NZ Aotearoa keyboard, then press the ` key (top left, under Esc) followed by the vowel. On a Mac, add the Māori input source and hold Option while you press the vowel. Add Shift for a capital Ā. Each method is set out step by step below, as Microsoft, Apple and Google document it, with the version of each system where the steps differ.

Updated 19 October 2026 · 9 min read

Tap 🔊 to hear an example. Māori examples play Papa Reo, the te reo Māori voice made by Te Hiku Media from recordings of native speakers.

The quick answer

Device	To type ā	To type Ā	Set-up needed
Windows 10 or 11	`, then `a`	`, then `Shift`+`a`	the Māori or NZ Aotearoa keyboard
Mac	`Option`+`a`	`Option`+`Shift`+`a`	the Māori input source
Mac, any keyboard	press and hold `a`, choose ā	use the Māori input source	none
iPhone, iPad	touch and hold a, slide to ā	tap Shift first, then touch and hold	none
Android (Gboard)	touch and hold a, choose ā	tap Shift first, then touch and hold	none
Word for Windows	type `0101`, then `Alt`+`X`	`0100`, then `Alt`+`X`	none
Google Docs	Insert › Symbols › Special characters	the same	none

The same keys work for all five vowels: ā ē ī ō ū and Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū. If you type Māori every day, the keyboard set-up is worth the two minutes it takes, because a macron then costs one extra keystroke instead of a hunt through a menu.

Windows 10 and 11: the Māori and NZ Aotearoa keyboards

Windows has two keyboard layouts that type macrons, and in Microsoft’s own layout reference they behave identically. The Māori layout (listed there as Maori) has been part of Windows since Windows XP Service Pack 2. The NZ Aotearoa layout arrived with Windows 11; Microsoft New Zealand announced in October 2021 that it would load as the default New Zealand keyboard on updated devices. Either one turns the ` key, the one left of 1 with ~ printed above it, into a macron key.

Add the keyboard on Windows 11

Open Settings › Time & language › Language & region.
Select the … next to your language (for most people, English (New Zealand) or another English) and choose Language options.
Under Keyboards, select Add a keyboard and pick NZ Aotearoa or Māori. Microsoft notes that the list shows the layouts for the selected language first and then every other layout alphabetically, so scroll if it is not near the top.

Add the keyboard on Windows 10

Open Settings › Time & language › Language.
Under Preferred languages, select your language and click Options.
Under Keyboards, select Add a keyboard and pick Māori (it may be spelt Maori). NZ Aotearoa is not offered on Windows 10; it was introduced with Windows 11.

If you would rather have Māori listed as a language of its own, both versions also let you choose Add a language on the same settings page and add Māori; Microsoft’s steps then install its language features, and you pick the keyboard the same way. To switch keyboards once you have more than one, click the language abbreviation in the taskbar, or hold the Windows key and press Space.

Type the macron on Windows

Press and release `. Nothing appears yet: it is a dead key, waiting for the next letter.
Type the vowel. ` then a gives ā, and so on for e i o u.
For a capital, hold Shift on the vowel: ` then Shift+o gives Ō.

One catch for programmers. On both layouts that key no longer types a backtick. Microsoft’s table for the key gives ` then Space as ~, and Shift+` as ~ too, and lists no way to get the backtick itself. If you write code or Markdown, keep an English layout installed alongside and switch with Windows+Space.

Microsoft’s announcement calls it the tilde key and its layout table calls it the grave accent: both mean the same key, top left, with ` on it and ~ above.

Mac: the Māori input source, or press and hold

Press and hold, with no set-up

Apple’s Mac User Guide: press and hold a letter key, such as a, and an accent menu appears; choose the letter you want. Consumer NZ confirms the macron vowel is among the options. It needs no settings, but it is slow for a whole paragraph of Māori.

Add the Māori input source

macOS Ventura (13) and later: choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Keyboard in the sidebar, go to Text Input and click Edit. macOS Big Sur (11) and Monterey (12): choose Apple menu › System Preferences, click Keyboard, then Input Sources.
Click the + (Add) button and search for Māori.
Select it and click Add. An Input menu appears in the menu bar; choose Māori there whenever you want to type it. Apple’s shortcuts also work: Control+Space returns to the input source you used last.

Type the macron on a Mac

With the Māori input source on, hold Option and press the vowel: Option+a gives ā.
Add Shift for a capital: Option+Shift+a gives Ā.
The Māori layout also makes ` a dead key, as on Windows: ` then a vowel gives the macron vowel. Unlike Windows, pressing ` twice, or ` then Space, still types a backtick.

Apple’s guide does not spell out the Māori layout’s keys itself. The keys above are as recorded in Unicode’s CLDR keyboard data for Apple’s Māori layout, and Consumer NZ’s instructions for current macOS give the same Option and Shift combinations. If you also write French, German or another language and would rather not switch layouts, Apple’s ABC – Extended input source has a macron dead key on Option+a: press it, release, then type the vowel.

iPhone and iPad

Apple’s iPhone User Guide: touch and hold the letter related to the character you want, then slide your finger and release it on the option you want. Touch and hold a, slide to ā, and lift your finger. For a capital, tap Shift first so the keyboard shows capitals, then touch and hold the vowel.

There is also a Māori keyboard; Apple’s iOS and iPadOS Feature Availability page lists Māori among the languages the keyboard supports. To add it, the steps are the same on iPhone and iPad:

Open the Settings app and tap General, then Keyboard.
Tap Keyboards, then Add New Keyboard, and choose Māori from the list.
While typing, touch and hold the globe or emoji key below the letters and tap the keyboard you want.

Android

On Gboard, Google’s keyboard and the one most Android phones use, Google’s help says: to find accents and more options, touch and hold a key. Touch and hold a and choose ā; tap Shift first for Ā. Google added suggestions and gesture typing for Māori to Gboard in 2017, so you can also add Māori as a Gboard language:

In any app you can type in, tap where you enter text.
At the top of the keyboard, tap Settings (the cog), then Languages, then Add keyboard.
Pick Māori, pick the layout you want, and tap Done. Touch and hold the space bar to switch languages.

Google gives a second route through the phone’s own Settings › System › Keyboard › On-screen keyboard › Gboard › Languages; some phone makers name these menus differently. Google notes that adding a language to Gboard does not change the language of the phone itself.

Word, Google Docs and Chromebooks

Microsoft Word for Windows turns a Unicode code into its character: type the code, then press Alt+X. Microsoft notes that if the code comes straight after another letter, you should select just the code before pressing Alt+X. The codes are:

Vowel	Code	Capital	Code
ā	`0101`	Ā	`0100`
ē	`0113`	Ē	`0112`
ī	`012B`	Ī	`012A`
ō	`014D`	Ō	`014C`
ū	`016B`	Ū	`016A`

Google Docs and Slides on a computer: click Insert › Symbols › Special characters, then find the letter by category, by entering its Unicode value from the table above, or by drawing it in the box on the right. Google notes Sheets has no such menu, so copy the character from a document and paste it into the cell.

Chromebooks: Google’s Chromebook help explains how to add keyboard languages (Settings › Device › Keyboard › Change input settings) but documents no Māori macron key, so this guide does not give one. The exception is the te reo Māori Chromebook that Google New Zealand says it developed with PB Tech and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, now in schools, which has physical keys for tohutō.

Why the macron matters

In Māori the macron, tohutō ‘macron’, marks a long vowel, and a long vowel makes a different word. Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, the Māori Language Commission, puts it plainly in one of the example sentences of its orthography guidelines:

He mea nui te tohutō – koia e tohu ana ki hea tōia ai te oropuare i te kupu. (“The macron is important – it shows where the vowels in a word should be pronounced long.”)

Three pairs from Te Aka Māori Dictionary show what goes wrong when it is left off:

Without	Means	With	Means
papa	board, floor, the Earth	pāpā	father, dad, uncle
ata	morning	āta	carefully, slowly, deliberately
tau	year; to land, settle	tāu	your (one person’s, one thing)

Te Aka’s example Kia āta haere! ‘Go slowly!’ needs its macron, and in its example Kei hea tāu ika? ‘Where’s your fish?’, writing tau puts a word for year where your should be. How long a long vowel is, and more pairs, are in the Māori pronunciation guide. Te Taura Whiri’s guidelines also say that text produced on a computer should use Unicode macrons, the real characters ā ē ī ō ū. A macron that is only drawn by a special font does not survive being copied: the text of Te Taura Whiri’s own 2012 PDF, copied out of it, reads “Mäori” in its page headings.

Capital letters with macrons

Capitals keep the macron: Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū. It matters most at the start of names. Te Taura Whiri’s guidelines write place names that begin with the word Ō with a macron, giving Ōtaki, Ōtautahi (Christchurch) and Ōpōtiki, and a sentence can begin with a long vowel too, as in Āe. ‘Yes.’ Every method above has a capital form: Shift on the vowel on Windows and Mac, Shift before the long-press on a phone, and the second column of codes in Word.

Double vowels instead of macrons

Some writers mark a long vowel by doubling it: aa for ā, uu for ū. On its own website Waikato-Tainui writes the Māori King movement as Kiingitanga, ancestors as tuupuna and the language as Maaori, and Waikato Museum, Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, explains that it uses double vowels in place of macrons because that is the preference of tangata whenua: the local people of Kirikiriroa Hamilton and Waikato iwi. Te Aka’s entry for tohutō even quotes a writer who “did not like the macron, preferring to use the double or triple vowel.”

Question	Te Taura Whiri’s guidelines	Waikato-Tainui and Waikato Museum
Ordinary words	macrons: āhua, rōpū, “not aahua”	double vowels: Maaori, tuupuna
People’s names	macrons where known, but use the form living people use or consent to	names from outside Waikato-Tainui keep their own spelling (Waikato Museum)
A vowel drawn out for effect	repeat the vowel, e.g. Eee	—

If you cannot type a macron at all, the double vowel at least keeps the long vowel visible, which is better than dropping it. The reverse does not hold: not every doubled vowel is a long one. Some ordinary words have two of the same vowel because they are two word-parts joined: whakaaro ‘to think’ is whaka- + aro, and manaaki ‘to look after’ is mana + aki. Te Taura Whiri’s guidelines say these are written with both vowels and never with a macron, so whakāro and manāki are misspellings.

Where to go next

Typing the macrons is half of getting Māori right in writing; the other half is choosing the right words, which no keyboard does for you. English to Māori translation explains what an English sentence leaves out, and Māori place names shows what the macrons in the map mean. To learn the words with their macrons from the start, our own free te reo Māori course marks every long vowel and plays each example aloud.