150+ macOS Symbols with Meaning

When you power on Mac, you will land in the desktop screen that contains different elements. By default, Mac desktop shows a top bar containing lots of symbols, dock and desktop icons. Depending upon your settings, Finder and other apps also show some common and specific symbols. For example, do you ever wonder the pie chart icon or cloud icons showing in different variations in Finder? Here is the complete list of macOS symbols with meaning to answer all your questions.

Related: 100+ iPhone symbols with meaning.

macOS Symbols with Meaning

Below table is the list of symbols in Mac along with its meaning. The list contains the following three type of items:

• Common and special symbols
• Gestures used in trackpad
• Default App icons

Symbol	Meaning
	Accessibility
	Add new
	Add tab group in Safari
	Adjust appearance or change font size
	AirDrop
	AirPlay
	Annotate
	App Store icon
	Apple menu
	Apple TV icon
	Applications symbol
	Apps button
	Battery charging
	Battery fully charged
	Bluetooth
	Bookmark
	Books app
	Calculator icon
	Calendar app
	Capture selection
	Change item grouping in Finder
	Chess icon
	Click or press gesture in trackpad
	Close symbol
	Cloud or dotted cloud icon next to file or folder indicates items waiting to upload to iCloud. It is also the symbol for iCloud Drive.
	Cloud with cross line next to a file indicates the item is ineligible for synchronizing with iCloud. You can see this on the temporary files that are not eligible for sync.
	Cloud with down arrow next to a file or folder indicates item content only in iCloud, click to download to your Mac.
	Columns view in Finder
	Command key
	Compare
	Control Center
	Control key
	Decrease keyboard illumination brightness
	Decrease volume
	Desktop
	Detailed options
	Dictation
	Disk Utility app
	Display emoji
	Do not disturb
	Documents
	Downloads
	Edit or create new
	Enhance picture
	Expand
	Extensions
	FaceTime icon
	Family Sharing
	Fast forward
	Favorite
	Find My icon
	Finder icon
	Flashlight in camera
	Folder
	Force click gesture
	Front camera
	Open fullscreen view or tile window options
	Function key
	Gallery view in Finder
	GarageBand icon
	Go to bookmarked page in Books
	Home icon
	Icon view in Finder
	iMovie icon
	Increase keyboard illumination brightness
	Increase Mac brightness
	Increase volume
Black dot under dock app	Indicating the app is currently open
	Information
	Keychain Access icon
	Keynote icon
	Language switcher
	Launchpad symbol
	List view in Finder
	Live photo
	Locked for edit
	Mail icon
	Maps icon
	Media button
	Messages icon
	Migration Assistance icon
	Minimize App
	Mission Control
	More options
	Music app icon
	Mute notifications symbol
	News app icon
	Notes app icon
	Numbers app icon
	Open launchpad gesture
	Open new tab in Safari
	Option or alt key
	Pages app icon
	Passwords
	Personal hotspot
	Phone, call or contact
	Photos app icon
	Pie chart symbol in Mac indicates synchronization of content with iCloud, either the item is uploading to iCloud or downloaded from iCloud.
	Pinch or zoom gesture
	Play or pause
	Podcast app icon
	Preview app icon
	Printer
	Privacy report button
	Progressing circle bar indicates the item is downloaded from iCloud.
	Reading List in Safari
	Recent Items
	Record screen
	Recording button
	Redo or navigate back
	Reduce Mac brightness
	Reminders app icon
	Rewind symbol
	Rotate picture
	Safari app icon
	Save photos and files
	Screen Mirroring
	Screen Time
	Secondary or right click gesture
	Settings app icon
	Share symbol
	Shared items
	Shift key
	Shortcuts icon
	Show highlights and notes in Books
	Siri button
	Speaker or sound
	Spotlight Search or Search in Finder and other apps
	Stocks icon
	Swipe between apps gesture
	Swipe to navigate gesture
	Switch keyboard layout
	Tags
	TextEdit icon
	Time Machine
	Timer
	Trackpad
	Translate button
	Trash Symbol
	Two finger scroll gesture
	Typing suggestions
	Undo or navigate back
	Unlocked for editing
	Users
	View sidebar in Safari browser.
	Viewing and sorting option or show tab overview in Safari
	Voice Memos
	VoiceOver Utility App
	Webpage successfully translated
	Wi-Fi status icon

Examples of Some Mac Symbols

Symbols are everywhere in your Mac and understanding the meaning is important to for taking action or understanding what is going on.

Symbols in Keyboard Shortcuts

All Mac apps show keyboard shortcuts in menu items. These shortcuts contain keyboard key symbols for command, control, option and shift. You will not get the description of the shortcut keys even you hover over the menu items. For example, “Edit” menu in Mac contains “Paste Special” and “Paste and Match Formatting” with keyboard shortcut showing like below.

Symbols in Finder App

Finder is the most useful app in Mac which contains many symbols. The below Finder app screenshot indicates the symbols in top title bar position, sidebar and next to files/folders.

You have to understand the meaning of macOS symbols to use Apps and menu shortcuts properly.

macOS Symbols with Meaning PDF

Do you like the above list of symbols? Here is a PDF of the macOS symbols with meaning that you can download for offline reference.