PopChar gives you different ways to view and organize characters so you can find what you need quickly. These different views are called layouts.
You can choose a layout from the pop-up menu at the top-right corner of the PopChar window when you're in the character table view.
Built-in layouts
PopChar includes two standard layouts based on the Unicode standard:
1. Unicode Blocks
Characters are grouped according to the official Unicode blocks.
This is the technical grouping used by Unicode to organize characters by type or function.
2. Scripts and Symbols
Characters are grouped by language scripts (like Latin, Cyrillic, or East Asian) and symbol categories (such as phonetic, geometric, or technical symbols).
This layout helps you find characters more easily based on their use or meaning.
Custom layouts
Below the separator line in the layout menu, you’ll find your custom layouts.
These are layouts you can create or edit yourself.
PopChar already includes a few custom layouts you can use as examples.
To manage them:
- Select Custom Layouts… from the layout menu.
→ This opens the Layouts folder in Finder. - Layouts are text files, which you can open and edit with TextEdit.
- Inside the folder, you’ll also find an Info subfolder with details about the layout file format.
Want even more layouts?
Choose More Layouts… from the menu to visit our extensions page.
Global vs. font-specific layouts
By default, when you choose a layout, it becomes the global layout meaning PopChar uses it for all fonts.
However, some fonts work best with specific layouts.
For example:
- The “Emojis 15.0” layout organizes emoji by meaning.
This makes it especially useful for fonts like Apple Color Emoji.
To link a font to a layout:
- Select the font in PopChar.
- Click the link symbol left of the Layout dropdown.
- Choose the layout you want PopChar to use for that font.
From then on, PopChar will automatically switch to that layout whenever you select the linked font.
If a font isn’t linked to any layout, PopChar uses your global layout instead.
Tip: Linking fonts to specific layouts can make browsing symbols, emojis, and special characters much faster especially for fonts that include hundreds or even thousands of characters.