Enable a hidden Terminal command on your Mac running macOS Golden Gate to quickly insert emojis by typing a colon (:) followed by the emoji’s name.
There are a few easy ways to insert emojis on your Mac, but my personal favorite is pressing the fn key (or Control + Command + Space Bar) to open the Character Viewer window and select one from there.
The second option is to show the keyboard icon in the menu bar and access emojis from there.
Or, if there is an emoji you use a lot, you can set up text replacements for it, just like I have set ‘ggcc’ to insert a green check mark (✅) and ‘rrcc’ to insert a red cross (❌), as I need these often when renaming files in Finder.
The tip below (first discovered by @pdfu on X) seems to simplify emoji insertion even further.
If you’re a Slack user, you’ll feel right at home. In case you’ve never used Slack, note that it lets you select and insert an emoji by typing a colon (:), followed by the emoji name!
Thanks to this hidden discovery in macOS 27, you can use the same Slack method to insert emojis in Notes, TextEdit, Calendar, and other AppKit text editors. It also works in apps like Messages, albeit with a delay. However, per pdfu (and verified by me), this emoji trick lacks WebKit implementation, so it fails in apps like Mail and Safari.
Also check out: How to know what an emoji means
Insert emoji on Mac by typing a colon, followed by the emoji name
1) Open Terminal on your Mac.
2) Copy and paste the following command and press the return / enter key.
sudo mkdir -p /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain && \
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/Stickers InlineEmojiSearch -dict Enabled -bool true
3) Type your Mac’s password and press the return / enter key. Terminal won’t show visual confirmation when you enter the password, so type it carefully.
4) Restart your Mac. This is important!
5) Now open Notes or TextEdit, type a colon (:) and then enter the initials of the desired emoji name, like smi for smiling emoji or hea for heart. You’ll see an emoji pane right where you’re typing; select the one you want to insert.
If you change your mind and don’t want to use this feature, open Terminal and run the command below. Then restart your Mac for the changes to take effect.
sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/Stickers InlineEmojiSearch
What do you think of this? I love it, but unfortunately, I do most of my typing in Google Chrome, and it doesn’t work there.
Other hidden macOS tips discovered by pdfu: