# FR: Open emoji picker in macOS

**URL:** <https://forum.juce.com/t/fr-open-emoji-picker-in-macos/65323>\
**Category:** Feature Requests\
**Created:** [February 22, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/fr-open-emoji-picker-in-macos/65323 "2025-02-22T17:47:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sudara](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/sudara/32/8071_2.png) [@sudara](https://forum.juce.com/u/sudara)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/fr-open-emoji-picker-in-macos/65323/1 "2025-02-22T17:47:08Z")

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Tiny fun one now that JUCE 8 supports emoji. Would be cool to pop open the macOS emoji picker (native apps usually bind this to ctrl-cmd-space).

 ![Arc - 2025-02-22.38@2x](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/juce/original/3X/9/2/92257070bb0b46ddcd66f7f63070940a21d57d43.jpeg)

Apparently can be done via a call to [orderFrontCharacterPalette](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nsapplication/orderfrontcharacterpalette(_:)?language=objc).

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**Author:** ![aamf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/aamf/32/19941_2.png) [@aamf](https://forum.juce.com/u/aamf)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/fr-open-emoji-picker-in-macos/65323/2 "2025-02-23T14:34:29Z")

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> [@sudara](#):
>
> ctrl-cmd-space

😮

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**Author:** ![hugoderwolf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/hugoderwolf/32/14039_2.png) [@hugoderwolf](https://forum.juce.com/u/hugoderwolf)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 8:58am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/fr-open-emoji-picker-in-macos/65323/3 "2025-02-24T08:58:57Z")

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Not sure if anything needs to be done explicitly by an app to support this.

I usually use the Fn key to open it (I don’t think I consciously configured that at some point), and Ctrl-Cmd-Space works as well.

In a JUCE Standalone plugin, a quick test here shows that Fn works, while Ctrl-Cmd-Space doesn’t. Could it be that the latter is simply swallowed by some key handling logic?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sudara](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/sudara/32/8071_2.png) [@sudara](https://forum.juce.com/u/sudara)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/fr-open-emoji-picker-in-macos/65323/4 "2025-02-24T12:46:10Z")

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> [@hugoderwolf](#):
>
> I usually use the Fn key to open it

Ah right, the globe key! It looks like both that machine and my laptop had the globe/fn key set to “Do Nothing” in settings. Not sure if that’s the default.

 ![System Settings - 2025-02-24.25@2x](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/juce/original/3X/3/8/38adbe3b3ffde22b9b8ce293f3601c461e90bd9d.png)

I’m also usually on a desktop machine with a keyboard that doesn’t have that key…

> the latter is simply swallowed by some key handling logic?

Hmm, cmd-space (spotlight) works (not trapped by the app). It might be up to the native app to implement cmd-ctrl-space for `orderFrontCharacterPalette` (for example, Logic doesn’t implement it).