I spent some time searching for a way to insert a glyph which I knew was in the font but not on the keyboard. Eventually, a search for ‘insert characters’ (as it is ususally called in word processors) in the manual did give me the answer. It is the last function in the edit menu under the name ‘Character Map’.
I would have thought it would be better placed in the insert menu since it is not actually an edit of the Character Map but a way to use the character map to insert a character into the document. Just like inserting an image, a file, a comment, a current date and time …
“Insert” typically means you’re taking an exterior object, though, and placing it into the document.
With the character map, you’re not inserting an outside entity, you’re using a helper application to find the correct character(s) to include in your text.
Not that this isn’t a bad idea, I’ve written it up as a suggestion, but to save yourself some time in the future: Character Map is a general Windows utility, which can be accessed at any time with via the Start menu and just searching for it. You don’t need any program to support it, or have to spend time hunting down where they put it, if they do.
Hi, AmberV - glad you forgot to refresh. I do remember a few keyboard shortcuts for ascii characters, like Alt +0130 for e acute (é) from old Windows 3.1 days but I’m not so familiar with Windows10 and didn’t realise that Character Map was available as a utility.
Oh !!! That is amusing - I’ve been sitting alongside that app through all Windows versions since v1 through 7 (including NT) and never noticed. That’s very slack of me. I used to consult a paper copy crib sheet to enter odd chars via keyboard number pad.
Windows 1 only survived an afternoon before going to the wastebin but I got back into 3.11 at the recommendation of a colleague and ran linux distros in parallel until W8 which I never had. I got back into W10 to run Scrivener because it seemed better on Windows than on linux, even under Wine.
Just goes to show how easy it is to get set in one’s ways.
Does anyone else have trouble getting the listed ALT codes to work for this, though? I’ve tried a few different characters, and the ALT code given in the character map never produces what it says it should for me.
Further details: I can get it to work, but only if I ALSO hold down my laptop’s function key, despite having a dedicated number pad that works just fine outside Scrivener without needing the Fn key added.
