Stupid Question #4736

CharlesL

PFG, Picture Framing God
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I used to be able to find where to go to use the 'special characters', but I've searched dilligently and have not found how to do it.

I know everybody on the planet but me knows how to do this...
 
Charles, are you wanting to say cool things like ¶ ą § £ ¥?

If so, go to Programs, accessories, system tools, character map.
 
Point to remember, if you start typing a responce and then finally post it over an hour later - expect someone else to have beaten you to it...
 
I tried 'Programs', 'Accessories', 'System Tools', but there is no character map listed.

Also, when I tried to 'run' charmap.exe, I said it couldn't find it.

I'm running XP, SP 2...
 
Try just the "charmap" without the extension.

The actual file normally lives at:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\charmap.exe

You could try cutting and pasting that into the run dialog box.
 
Charles are you running XP Home or Professional? I don't know if it makes a difference but it might. Mine comes up as Ron suggested. It will also pop up when my grandkids play on the keyboard so there must be a shortcut key also.

Try programs help and support and search character map.

In MS Word, go to insert, symbols and it will pop up. Click on the symbol, insert and you don't have to copy and paste.

This site has a tutorial on installing. http://www.compukiss.com/sandyclassroom/tutorials/article751.htm

Yes, it's late or early.
 
It’s the same for both Home and Professional

In Word on the menu bar go to “Insert” “Symbol” and there you should have it.

I don’t know about you guys but it’s morning for me and not to early……

kaffeetrinker_2.gif
 
It's possible you don't have character map installed.

Go to Add/Remove programs part of Control Panel. On the panel to the left there is something like Add/Remove Windows Components.

Select accessories and make sure that Character Map is checked.

You might need your XP installation CD, depending on how it was installed initially.

I know everybody on the planet but me knows how to do this.
I polled (poled?) all eleven of The Diva's gerbils and only three actually knew about character map.
 
I hear that all the time, Dermot, and I respectfully disagree. I think there are some questions better left unasked (though I don't believe this is one of them.)

We see examples on the main Grumble forum that go something like this: "I bought a drawing at a garage sale that turned out to be an original Picasso. I took it to a framer in town, but the ******* wanted $200 to frame it! Can you tell me how to frame it myself?"

Okay, so maybe it's just the context that makes that a stupid question.
 
Charles,

It's so strange but I had been using the character map utility on this computer. I went to "accessories" and it was gone! I'm thinking that since I have automatic updates turned on that it Windows has removed it on my behalf. I went to reinstall it and the option isn't there?!

I'll either keep poking or I'll check out the on-screen keyboard (developed by a competitor of mine from the old days btw!) and ee if they support the map.


~~~

Did a help search, accessories, system tools, there it is!

~~~~ egg on my face again!
 
Yeh, I don't know which genius at Microsoft decided that character map is a system tool.

Disk cleanup and defrag are system tools. Character map is entertainment.
 
¶ a? § £ ¥?
¿I realize that the Mac and PC keyboards are slightly different, but aren’t those “special characters” part of the standard character set accessible through modifier keys, like “option/alt” or “Shift-option/alt”?

¿They vary slightly from font face to font face, but don’t you PC people have something like “Key Caps” or “ASCII generator” which will show you how to get those oddball characters?

Or barring that, I (sorta, kinda) believe I’ve seen the font face “Symbol” installed on the few Windows machines I have been forced to use. That character set will give you a whole lot of <strike>nifty</strike> weird stuff.
 
Originally posted by Bill Henry:
aren’t those “special characters” part of the standard character set accessible through modifier keys, like “option/alt” or “Shift-option/alt”?
Not quite as simply as the Mac does (one-key shortcuts printed on the keyboard). You have to press <Alt> plus a 4-digit code on the numeric keypad. For instance:

<Alt>+0176 = °
<Alt>+0177 = ±
<Alt>+0174 = ®
<Alt>+­0169 = ©
<Alt>+0244 = ô
<Alt>+0224 = à
etc.

I'm sure there's a list compiled somewhere, and if you can find Character Map, it will show the keyboard shortcut for the characters where applicable.
 
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