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This is an obscure use case, so I'm not surprised that there's nothing about this online. I already know how to type accent marks in general, and how to change keyboards. However, I was not able to find any way to type e.g. m̃ using the Lithuanian or ABC Extended keyboards. I thought option-N followed by M would work in ABC Extended, for instance, but it doesn't. Here is a complete list of the characters I would like to be able to type:

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.693.9500&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Note that only a subset of these pose an issue. For example, I can obviously type é, ȩ, and č in either of the keyboard layouts above.

Any advice is appreciated. I would prefer to not have to pick characters from the symbol selection table.

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For info on how to add combining diacritics to any character with ABC Extended, see this page

http://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/mac/codemacext/

For example, m̃ is made by typing m and then option-shift n. ė̃ is made by typing option w, e, then option-shift n.

The keystrokes for adding acute ́ and grave ̀ are option-shift e and option-shift `.

You might want to create a customized version of the Apple Lithuanian keyboard using Ukelele to adding keys for the combining diacritics used to indicate stress. Here is one you can try.

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  • While that does work in TextEdit, the first example in brackets doesn't work in Safari (inserts HTML entity), and the example in editor requires key-strokes not explained at the link. Also, this is quite cumbersome to use from ABC-Ex. Are you aware of existing or howto custom 'keyboard layout' this from a more native layout? Mar 20, 2019 at 9:24
  • Example editor is again TextEdit (maybe I have an extension/script active in my Safari, perhaps just disregard that part). // Your example m̃ & the linked howto gives: "Combing Diacritics: Type Letter first, then Code", you yourself have the letter in the middle of that sequence. Mar 20, 2019 at 13:10
  • I tried that howto and typed starting with the letter 'e' to arrive at ė̃, failing. As you now explain in the A one needs ' option w' before the actual letter e is hit. This complexity isn't covered in the howto? Haven't tried all cases and so am unsure on how to phrase that better for the more general issue. // If you have more cases covered: perhaps quote the whole howto here and complement the missing info? Mar 20, 2019 at 13:24
  • Ah! This e example doesn't work for Lithuanian at all, only for ABCEx. Then, with e -> ė̃ I can follow either way with ABC, but not for a -> a˛ą ȧ˛a a. Culprit: in ABC I need to start with opt-m, then a & assisted by keyboard viewer 'opt-e' is highlighted as combining, shift-option-e is not, but that it is. In Safari: correct sequence: 'ą́' but starting with a: 'a˛́'. Mar 20, 2019 at 15:02
  • Thank you for the quick response! This does work, although it is slightly cumbersome. I guess my mistake was trying to type option-n before instead of shift-option-n afterwards (and the same for the other option combinations). Should I mark this answer as accepted or wait for others? Mar 20, 2019 at 15:35

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