Author Topic: Additional keyboard characters  (Read 2516 times)

Additional keyboard characters
« on: 22 April, 2020, 02:37:45 pm »
On typical qwerty keyboard (using windows 10) is there a way to show additional letters/characters?


Thanks.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #1 on: 22 April, 2020, 02:54:07 pm »
Set your keyboard layout as "United Kingdom Extended". Then you can type extra characters for graves and acutes etc.
eg for graves press ` then the letter. eg àè
Or for circumflexes, press AltGr+6 then the letter. ôâ

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #2 on: 22 April, 2020, 02:56:04 pm »
On typical qwerty keyboard (using windows 10) is there a way to show additional letters/characters?


Thanks.

Unless you have a keyboard with some kind of LCD or E-ink based keycaps no. The keys are plastic with printed or embossed characters.

If you mean can you enter characters that aren't on your keyboard into an application such as Word then yes you can. You enter the ASCSI or Unicode number of the character.

Here is a MS arcticale on how to do it:

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Insert-ASCII-or-Unicode-Latin-based-symbols-and-characters-d13f58d3-7bcb-44a7-a4d5-972ee12e50e0

You will also need to be using a font that has the character in question, not all have them all.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #3 on: 22 April, 2020, 03:02:06 pm »
Set your keyboard layout as "United Kingdom Extended". Then you can type extra characters for graves and acutes etc.
eg for graves press ` then the letter. eg àè
Or for circumflexes, press AltGr+6 then the letter. ôâ
On this hp laptop with windows 10 I can only set the keyboard to standard or legacy.
No worries fuaran, I'll search around for a solution.
@pcolbeck, I have no idea what ascsi is.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #4 on: 22 April, 2020, 03:09:04 pm »
@pcolbeck, I have no idea what ascsi is.

My bad I mean ASCII.

ASCII and Unicode are the ways characters are defined on most computers. There is a number associated with each character. U Umlaut for example is ASCII 0129.
In Windows you can enter it by holding alt down and then 0129 on the numeric keypad (make sure num lock is on). For Unicode you press alt then X then enter the code.

ASCII tables here:

https://www.asciitable.com/
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #5 on: 22 April, 2020, 03:10:42 pm »
Set your keyboard layout as "United Kingdom Extended". Then you can type extra characters for graves and acutes etc.
eg for graves press ` then the letter. eg àè
Or for circumflexes, press AltGr+6 then the letter. ôâ
On this hp laptop with windows 10 I can only set the keyboard to standard or legacy.
No worries fuaran, I'll search around for a solution.

It is a built in option on Windows, so you should be able to set it. Though not very obvious how to find it.
Have to go to Windows settings, then Language, then under preferred language it should have English (United Kingdom).
Click options for that, and should be able to add another keyboard. And make sure you remove any other keyboard layouts listed.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #6 on: 22 April, 2020, 03:36:09 pm »
Set your keyboard layout as "United Kingdom Extended". Then you can type extra characters for graves and acutes etc.
eg for graves press ` then the letter. eg àè
Or for circumflexes, press AltGr+6 then the letter. ôâ
On this hp laptop with windows 10 I can only set the keyboard to standard or legacy.
No worries fuaran, I'll search around for a solution.

Quote
It is a built in option on Windows, so you should be able to set it. Though not very obvious how to find it.
Have to go to Windows settings, then Language, then under preferred language it should have English (United Kingdom).
Click options for that, and should be able to add another keyboard. And make sure you remove any other keyboard layouts listed.

Thank you, I found it.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #7 on: 22 April, 2020, 05:24:35 pm »
Set your keyboard layout as "United Kingdom Extended". Then you can type extra characters for graves and acutes etc.
eg for graves press ` then the letter. eg àè
Or for circumflexes, press AltGr+6 then the letter. ôâ
On this hp laptop with windows 10 I can only set the keyboard to standard or legacy.
No worries fuaran, I'll search around for a solution.

It is a built in option on Windows, so you should be able to set it. Though not very obvious how to find it.
Have to go to Windows settings, then Language, then under preferred language it should have English (United Kingdom).
Click options for that, and should be able to add another keyboard. And make sure you remove any other keyboard layouts listed.

Removing a language is not needed. If you have multiple keyboards installed you'll see a small extra option on the bottom right where you can switch between the various keyboards. At work I for example have 3 keyboards installed, English, Dutch and Lithuanian. This gives me about all the signs I need to address a customer properly.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #8 on: 22 April, 2020, 05:31:56 pm »
Removing a language is not needed. If you have multiple keyboards installed you'll see a small extra option on the bottom right where you can switch between the various keyboards. At work I for example have 3 keyboards installed, English, Dutch and Lithuanian. This gives me about all the signs I need to address a customer properly.
It is not needed, but it helps to avoid confusion, from switching to the wrong one. Depends on which one Windows decides is the default. You can press Windows key+Space bar to switch keyboards.

The UK Extended keyboard does everything the standard UK keyboard does, so not much point in having them both installed.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #9 on: 30 April, 2020, 07:04:23 pm »
....Though not very obvious how to find it.

There's this legacy meme that Windows is hard to use. W10 for all its faults is really not.

You want to get to keyboard settings? Click on the start button then start typing "Keyboard", you don't have to get further than "key" for the options to appear. The same applies from any other setting, file, program, device

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #10 on: 30 April, 2020, 09:39:08 pm »
I found this: https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html , which is the sort of thing I was after.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #11 on: 30 April, 2020, 09:49:11 pm »
There's also the Compose key approach, which is more of a *nix thing, but there must be a way to make happen on Windows (the whole point in Windows being that someone will have already solved your problem for it).

As a way of entering infrequently used characters it's a bit more slick than typing alt codes, and a lot easier to remember the sequences for.


Advanced level tip, which I've forgotten how I did under Linux and haven't a clue how to reproduce on Windows: Turn your <Caps Lock> key into <Compose> for ease of access and so that you don't miss the <a> ND FIND THAT YOU COULD MURDER A CURRY.  (Actual <Caps Lock> functionality can be safely buried under <Shift><Shift> for times of need.)

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #12 on: 30 April, 2020, 10:05:44 pm »
I found this: https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html , which is the sort of thing I was after.

Ah, was that all you were looking for? That's been a capability since Win3. If that's all you wanted, you - again - need to look no further than windows, although this time it is hidden. A utility that has been there - again since Win3 - is Charmap

WinKey+R, type charmap into the box, press enter. Hey presto, you can select and copy or look up the compose sequence.

Alternatively, as before, you can start typing "charmap" at the start prompt, and the application will appear and you can launch or drag it onto your desktop for a shortcut.

(and yes there are compose sequences as well, quickest ones are with the AltGr key, eg € where the $ is)

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #13 on: 30 April, 2020, 10:22:05 pm »
Nice work Ham :thumbsup: . Now have it on my desktop.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #14 on: 30 April, 2020, 10:31:29 pm »
WinKey+R, type charmap into the box, press enter. Hey presto, you can select and copy or look up the compose sequence.

Yes, just type the character that you don't know how to type into the Search box.   :)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #15 on: 30 April, 2020, 10:40:32 pm »
WinKey+R, type charmap into the box, press enter. Hey presto, you can select and copy or look up the compose sequence.

Yes, just type the character that you don't know how to type into the Search box.   :)

Keyboard not found, press <F1> to continue...

ian

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #16 on: 01 May, 2020, 09:49:12 am »
In Macland, you just press the key down for a moment longer and all the contextual alternatives pop-up. That's seems an elegant solution. Admittedly, you can't have that and autorepeat, but unless you type aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh a lot, it's probably not an issue.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #17 on: 01 May, 2020, 10:06:26 am »
Part of Windows problem is that it wants to be all things to all people. Unfortunately most people don't read manuals. Or do anything other than the bare minimum they need to carry out the tasks they want to do, mostly type eMail and browse porn.

Here's some stuff you may or may not have known

Windows emoji are now accessible with WinKey+"." (period) 😊🐱‍🚀👌🎁🤢🤔🐱‍🏍🐱‍👤🐱‍👓✔🎉 - why anyone would want them I don't know, but there you are. More usefully, the diacritics are available in that window under "Maths Symbols" and will likely be the easiest way to access  ΔèèééĚĚĒĒĜęęʥʣʤĦĦβ along with ASCII smileys (Kaomoji) such as ╰(*°▽°*)╯(︶^︶)

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #18 on: 01 May, 2020, 10:29:45 am »
Here's some stuff you may or may not have known

Windows emoji are now accessible with WinKey+"." (period) 😊🐱‍🚀👌🎁🤢🤔🐱‍🏍🐱‍👤🐱‍👓✔🎉 - why anyone would want them I don't know, but there you are. More usefully, the diacritics are available in that window under "Maths Symbols" and will likely be the easiest way to access  ΔèèééĚĚĒĒĜęęʥʣʤĦĦβ along with ASCII smileys (Kaomoji) such as ╰(*°▽°*)╯(︶^︶)

Wonders whether this will work using <CONTROL>+<ESC>+<.>  Only the laptop has one of these things you Earth people call a "WinKey".  I shall have to try when I'm on a Proper Computer.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #19 on: 01 May, 2020, 12:32:55 pm »
Only the laptop has one of these things you Earth people call a "WinKey".

Space cadets, of course, call it <Super>.  Or is it <Meta>?  One of those anyway.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #20 on: 01 May, 2020, 12:54:08 pm »

Wonders whether this will work using <CONTROL>+<ESC>+<.>  Only the laptop has one of these things you Earth people call a "WinKey".  I shall have to try when I'm on a Proper Computer.

Either hacking the registry yourself* or using SharpKeys will address your key lack. A google for "W10 Key Map registry" will likely take you where you need to be,

*As registry hacks go it is pretty straightforward, but if you've never approached it before, this isn't the time to start

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #21 on: 11 May, 2020, 09:09:01 pm »
On W10 (possibly on earlier versions) you can press Windows+. (full stop), then Symbols, then Latin symbols (bottom row) to get foreign and accented characters.

Re: Additional keyboard characters
« Reply #22 on: 12 May, 2020, 09:09:30 am »
On W10 (possibly on earlier versions) you can press Windows+. (full stop), then Symbols, then Latin symbols (bottom row) to get foreign and accented characters.
:thumbsup: ʤ