The computer keyboard has all the necessary keys including alphabets, numbers and symbols required for our daily work. But there are certain special characters that are not displayed on the keyboard, like the alphabets of a foreign language or characters not commonly displayed on the key board like the British Pound symbol (£) or the Japanese Yen symbol (¥) et al, and while dealing with financial reports and when you have to type ‰ (per mille symbol).
Here are certain simple methods which lets you type these symbols and signs. Many of you might have incorporated them by copy, paste techniques in your documents. However, it takes some time to search over them in the internet, and sometimes you may not be able to find certain symbols easily and you have to know their exact names. But worry not, as there are two simple methods to resolve the issue.
Character Map of Windows
The Character Map tool includes the list of special characters- symbols and alphabets on a computer and they can be accessed by simply clicking on the Windows key or Windows Icon on the desktop. It lets you open the explorer window and then type character map’ and press enter. You can then select character you require from the list of Character Map Window displayed on the screen. Copy+Paste these symbols in your document.
The list includes huge repository of special characters, but at times I may be difficult and time-consuming for you to search from the vast list. And we regularly use only few symbols, so it’s easier to know the shortcuts of such characters instead of finding them from the long set of list.
Keyboard Shortcuts
If you generally only use some of the specific symbols, it would be easier to remember the shortcuts.
Learn the shortcuts basics.
British Pound sign (£)- Press Alt key and Type 0163.
Japanese Yen (¥)- Press Alt key and Type 0165
Euro (€)- Press Alt Key and Type 0128.
Copyright sign (©)-Press Alt Key and Type 0169
However, these works with a numpad., and it is required to keep the ‘Num Lock’ key on and type the numbers. If your keyboard doesn’t have the numpad, like the most of the laptops, you can either attach a numpad or you are supposed to opt for Character Map option. You can learn the rest of the shortcuts from the Character Map window. Select a symbol you need, and you can find the related shortcut on the lower right corner of the window
