Insert symbols for an ion in pages. (i.e. Na+)

Question

I manage to create the symbols I need by editing it manually. But it would be lovely to have pages edit (auto-correct) it into an elevated text/symbol for me.. or perhaps make a keyboard-shortcut for it?

Answer 1

You can add the superscript plus sign to Pages Preferences Auto-correction.
From the Edit menu, choose Special Characters... and a Characters window will open. If you do not have a Math Symbols category in the left nav of this window, select the gear in the window heading and customize list. A drop down list will appear and select Math Symbols and then the Done button.
Math Symbols will now appear in the Character window left nav. Select it and in the resulting window of Math symbols, scroll down to the second from last row. On the right, will be your Super Script Plus (ion) character. Select it for visual reference.
In Pages preferences > Auto-Correction Preferences, go the end of the choices and select ‘+’ to create a new entry. Double-click the Replace entry to select it, and type a normal + sign like this: [+]. The brackets are arbitrary delimiters. Now, double-click in the With column to select it. In the Characters window, you can now double-click that SuperScript Plus sign that you selected earlier. It will now be placed in the With box. Click the ”On” box for this auto-correction row and close Pages preferences and the Characters window.
Now, in Pages, type the following:
“The sodium ion is represented by Na[+].”
If you want this ionic auto-correct to work outside of Pages, you can duplicate the above activity in the System Preferences > Language & Text > Text auto-correction table.