Windows - How to Select Language Specific Characters
This article will detail the process of opening and using the special characters that are available by default on Windows computers. The special characters include letters that are necessary when typing in languages such as Spanish, German, and French. You can then insert those characters into programs and applications such as email, Microsoft Office, and Notepad.
1. In the Windows search bar, type "character map".
2. Open the character map app.
- This shows all of the special characters that can be typed in Word (or email, Notepad, etc.).
- If you click on a character within the map, it will show you the keyboard shortcut for that character as pictured below.
- Enter the sequence on your keyboard and it will insert that character into your document.
- In this example pressing "U" and typing the numbers 0021 at the same time would result in an exclamation mark on your page.
- You can also click on a character and use the copy function. Highlight the character you want and press the Select button. The character will appear in the characters to copy box. You can then press Copy and use the paste function to paste the character into your document.
3. To search for a particular language, you can check the Advanced view box.
- You can search for the language you want to use in the Character set field, or simply type the language you are looking for in the Search field as pictured below.
- This will bring all of the special characters for that language to the top of the list.
