The Character Map - How to get those special characters without mucking about with fonts.

I was typing up a note that needed a copyright symbol inserted.

In Word 2007 it was pretty straight forward.

Go to the Insert Tab and click on the Symbol icon on the ribbon:


However, what do we do when we are working in Notepad or Wordpad and have need for symbols?

In Windows XP and Windows Vista you will find the character map for inserting all sorts of different symbol characters with the Character Map feature.

In Windows XP:



In Windows Vista:


It is the second option under the System Tools folder.

Both the XP and Vista Character Map versions are pretty much the same.

Here they are side by side:


The XP version is the one on the left.

Essentially, find the character you need, double click on it and it gets copied to the clipboard.

Flip back to Notepad, or the program you are using, and paste the character in.

Done.

It is helpful to get the "é" in Resumé. ;)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists