Hello Esther, Wow, thank you muchly for your comprehensive reply here. I'm sure there'll be something in here to help me. I'll have a play with these things but in the meantime If I explain further my problem maybe you'll have an idea...
Basically my keyboard, a Maltron right handed keyboard, is really designed for Windows but seems to work largely in a usable way under Mac except I just cannot find a way of typing an apostrophe. I'm sure there are going to be other things I can't type but so far I've just discovered I can't ttype an apostrophe. Of course I could press the apostrophe on the Macbook keyboard itself but a) it's a little difficult for me to do this and b) it'd be more productive for me not to take my hand off my Maltron keyboard. So I figured I could enter it by doing the unicode thing. I have now got this to work. It turned out that I misunderstood the layout of the languages and checkboxes in the list of languages in the system preferences, somehow I was ticking the checkbox associated with the language after the one I wanted. (A fairly basic mistake, I am still learning <smile> ) So now in the extras menu I have an item for unicode entry, and if I select that I can then hold down the Option key, type 0027, let go of Option and I have an apostrophe. But now that I've read your post there must be a quicker way I reckon. I suppose the easiest to set up would be have an apostrophe in a file and paste it in. But I'm very interested in setting up a string I could type and have it replaced with an apostrophe. So maybe I should look at the text substitution feature. This would be better than the current situation, but I did also read somewhere about a program called Ukelele which allows you to remap your keyboard. I'm not sure how accessible this would be and it doesn't sound particularly easy but I may give it a go... Thanks, I will read your post several times more and figure out a way forwards :-) Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther <mori...@mac-access.net> wrote: > Hi Catherine, > > I have a general suggestion that should help you enter all kinds of text > more easily, which is to use a third-party program for text expansion like > "aText" ($5 in the Mac app store), or to at least use custom text > substitution that you can set up under the "Text" pane of your Mac's "Text & > Language" page of System Preferences. However, I'll first try to answer > your question about entering unicode characters. > > I've entered unicode characters, but not by the unicode numbers. If you're > trying to type the more common special characters and symbols, then the > easiest way I've found is to type these is with Option key combinations. > I'll post some of these combinations (pasted from an old list post) at the > end of this message. Please note that the Option key combinations depend on > your input language keyboard. The ones I list are for an English language > keyboard, and I've noted the differences between British and U.S. English > (mainly a couple of instances in the currency symbols for pounds and Euros > -- other English input keyboards that use dollars will be like the U.S. > keyboards in this regard.) Also note that the description mostly matches > what VoiceOver will say, but I use "Angstrom" instead of "A ring", because > that's how the symbol is used in what I read. > > If you want to know how to type accented characters, Anne, I, or others, can > follow up in a second post about using Option key combinations. Depending > on the letter you want to accent, or whether you want to type the accent by > itself, you'll type these in different ways. Only accents that are uniquely > associated with a specific letter, like the cedilla with the "c" in French, > or the German esszett for "sharp s", can be typed as Option+c and Option+s. > You can also look up external sources like > > The Mac also lets you enter special characters using the "character viewer". > You can bring up this window from TextEdit or Mail by choosing the last > entry in the "Edit" menu on the application's menu bar. This will be > labeled "Special Characters…" Navigate to this option directly once you've > arrowed down into the "Edit" menu by pressing Command+down arrow, or else if > you're in TextEdit you can use the Command+Option+t shortcut. If you use > multiple languages on your Mac, you'll probably have "Show input menu in > menu bar" checked as a preference option, and have that menu on your status > menu bar (move there with Control-F8 or VO-m-m). This entry can also be > brought up with the "Show Character Viewer" option under your "Input Menu". > > The "Character Viewer" window is accessible, and if you set the pop up in > the title bar to "Code Tables", I believe you can locate unicode characters > by their code numbers. I've never used the character viewer with unicode > characters. In general, you can find a special character set that you want, > and put it on the favorites tab in the character viewer, but I've never > found this convenient to use. It's much easier to copy a set of symbols > from some other source -- like a web page -- to a TextEdit window and save > them there. This is how I handled special characters -- like Cyrillic > characters from Russian, very early on, when many options were not > accessible. > > Basically, you'll need to supply a little more information about the kind of > unicode characters you need to work with before we can give more concrete > suggestions. However, there are a few ways to simplify typing them once you > have them identified. First, Mountain Lion supports a feature for text > expansion of custom snippets. This was introduced in Snow Leopard, so > everyone should use this, but there is a new feature in Mountain Lion that > allows you to view your text "Substitutions" (as Apple describes this) in > the same "Edit" menu that you use for choosing "Special Characters", and > also edit them by selecting the "Text Replacement" option in the submenu. > (These are not the most obvious labels to use for this feature.) > > The text substitution feature allows you to define your own custom way of > typing special characters or long phrases, and have those characters or > phrases substituted in your text. You set this up under System Preferences > > Language & Text in the table on the "Text" pane. Navigate to the "Add" > button and press it (VO-Space). Then type first the text string you want to > type for your custom character or phrase; press tab, and type or paste in > the special characters or phrase you want substituted for this. You can add > as many custom snippets as you want. This is a way to add emoticons to your > email, or long signatures without having to type every word. You could add > snippet definitions for your email address, phone number, and custom > signature. Use a string or an initial character for your snippet shortcut > that you are not likely to type by mistake, like ";sig1" where the first > symbol is a semi-colon. When you're finished adding your custom snippets, > stop interacting with the table and close the Language & Text window with > Command-w. > > Now, when you type your custom characters in an email message or when > editing documents, they'll be replaced with your substitution text or > characters. There's an AppleVis podcast that demos this: > • Using the Built-in Text Expander on Mac OS X > http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/using-built-text-expander-mac-os-x > > > The Mac text substitution feature is handy, and will work in most of the > apps you use, like mail and TextEdit. However, if you want to use your > snippet shortcuts system wide, add more complicated shortcut definitions > than simple substitution, like have the actual date or time inserted when > you type a snippet, and have your snippets sync to Dropbox, you might want > to invest in a third party text expander. "aText", which is $4.99 at the > Mac App Store, seems to have very good reviews. LifeHacker recently > reported a new update, about two months ago, that supports the shortcut > expansion for files placed on Dropbox. The latest version supports Snow > Leopard and Lion, as well. There's also a version at the developer's web > site that supports Snow Leopard on the older PPC Macs. I wonder if someone > on the list could check out the free 15-day trial download from their web > site and report back: > http://www.trankynam.com/atext/ > > I took a quick look at the "aText" application, and it seems accessible and > worth while, but I'm already running TextExpander on my system (more > options, but more expensive, with the previous unique feature that it > supports this kind of sync option on Dropbox, etc and also with the > TextExpander Touch app that I run on my iOS devices). I like the > TextExpander interface better, but at $5 vs $35 for TextExpander, aText > seems like a bargain for what it does. In TextExpander when I run through > the list of my snippets, I get both the replacement text and the shortcut > announced. With aText I have to do a VO-j to I did read that you have to > keep aText running for it to work (while TextExpander runs in background). > I'd also suggest that whoever tests out aText go into its preferences pane > (Command-comma), and change the "Play feedback sound" option from it's > default value of "click" to some other more distinctive alert sound. > Originally, I thought that I wasn't getting a sound notification when the > substitution was made. > > If you're interested in how these text expansion apps can work, there's a > recent podcast at the AppleVis site by someone who demos TextExpander on the > Mac. > • TextExpander for Mac: Type Short Abbreviations to Enter Text Snippets, > Automatically Correct Misspelled Words, and More > http://bit.ly/115xfRs > (I'm giving you a shortened link to the podcast page, since the full address > will invariably wrap and break) > > I actually use TextExpander Touch on my iOS devices more than TextExpander > on my Mac. That's because I started using these devices back in 2009, when > there were no Bluetooth keyboards, and definitely no Siri. Using the > virtual keyboard for accented characters in languages other than English was > painful. While TextExpander Touch on iOS only works with apps built to > support it, any note-taking app worth its salt on iOS will have TextExpander > support built in. > > There are also free trial demos for TextExpander on the Mac. Try the entry > at the MacUpdate site: > • TextExpander for Mac – On-the-fly typing accelerator > http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/19147/textexpander > > The Mac App Store entry for aText is: > • aText ($4.99) by Tran Ky Nam Software (but remember this hasn't been > checked out in detail yet) > https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atext/id488566438?mt=12 > > Finally, if you do want more information on using the Character VIewer with > VoiceOver, there are some extensive AppleVis forum posts by Nicolai > Svendsen, who I think is still on this list, and myself. Here's a link to > the forum discussion page in question: > • using the special character itim pallet > http://www.applevis.com/forum/os-x-mac-app-discussion/using-special-character-itim-pallet > In case that link wraps, here's the shortened version: > http://bit.ly/Xzbs5x > > HTH. I'll add the list of Special Symbols and Characters typed with Option > key combinations below my signature. > > Cheers, > > Esther > > Special Symbols and Characters on the regular Mac Keyboard > > Categories: > > 1. Currency Symbols > 2. Trademark and Copyright Symbols > 3. Apple Symbol > 4. Math and Greek Character Symbols > 5. Copyediting, typesetting, and miscellaneous symbols > 6. Punctuation marks: right and left quotation marks for English and > other languages; inverted punctuation marks for Spanish > > Each entry gives the symbol followed by the descriptive name and the > keyboard combination to press for the symbol. Additional comments > about context for symbol usage may follow (in parentheses). > > Currency Symbols (in addition to $ = Shift+4) > > ¢ cents Option+4 > £ pound Option+3 (on a British keyboard Option+3 is # -- the number > or hash sign that is Shift+3 on U.S. keyboards, while Shift+3 is the > pound sign) > ¥ yen Option+y > € Euro Option+Shift+2 (on a British keyboard this is Option+2) > > Trademark and Copyright Symbols > > © copyright Option+g > ® registered Option+r > ™ trademark Option+2 > > Apple Symbol > > apple Option+Shift+K > > Math and Greek Character Symbols > > ± plus-or-minus Option+Shift+Equals (Shift+Equals is plus) > µ micro sign Option+m (Greek letter mu), units of microns > π pi Option+p (Greek letter pi) > √ square root Option+v > ÷ divided by Option+/ (slash is key to left of right-hand shift key) > · middle dot Option+Shift+9 (sign for multiplication) > ≈ almost equals Option+x > ≠ not equals Option+= (equals is key to right of delete key) > ∞ infinity Option+5 > ≤ less than or equal Option+comma (Shift+comma is the less than > sign) > ≥ greater than or equal Option+period (Shift+period is greater > than) > Å Angstrom sign Option+Shift+a (units of Angstroms) > ∑ summation sign Option+w > ° degree sign Option+Shift+8 > ∂ partial differential Option+d (calculus) > ∫ integral Option+b (calculus) > Ω Omega Option+z (units of solid angle, calculus) > > Copyediting, typesetting, and miscellaneous symbols > > ‡ double dagger Option+Shift+7 (used for footnotes) > ¶ pilcrow sign Option+7 (marks paragraphs) > § section sign Option+6 (marks sections) > • bullet sign Option+8 (marks list items) > – en dash Option+hyphen (used for spans like pages 5–12, years 2009–2012, > and for parenthetic remarks) > — em dash Option+Shift+hyphen (used for parenthetic remarks, and to set off > the source of quotations) > > Punctuation marks: right and left quotation marks for English and other > languages; inverted punctuation marks for Spanish > > ‘ left single quotation mark Option+right bracket > ’ right single quotation mark Option+Shift+right bracket > “ left double quotation mark Option+left bracket > ” right double quotation mark Option+Shift+left bracket > « left pointing double angle quotation mark Option+backslash > » right pointing double angle quotation mark Option+Shift+backslash > ‹ single left pointing angle quotation mark Option+Shift+3 > › single right pointing angle quotation mark Option+Shift+4 > ¡ inverted exclamation mark Option+1 > ¿ inverted question mark Option+Shift+slash (Shift+/ is question > mark) > … ellipsis Option+semi-colon > > > On 13 Apr 2013, at 09:19, Catherine Turner wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> Has anyone ever entered characters by entering the unicode numbers? >> To cut a long story short I have a need to do this and cannot get it >> to work. I found some instructions about it and think I followed them >> properly,and now I am suppose to be able to hold down the option key >> and enter the required unicode numbers which should result in the >> corresponding character being entered. What seems to be happening is >> I hold down the option key and start typing numbers but it seems to >> accept the very first digit which I enter without waiting for the >> others, no matter how fast I type, and I am typing pretty quickly. >> >> What complicates matters, and is the reason I have the need for this >> in the first place, is I am using a special keyboard adapted for one >> handed typing and I am also using sticky keys. However I have tried >> on the Macbook keyboard itself and with sticky keys switched off and >> it does not seem to make a difference. I wonder if anyone has any >> ideas? And if I cannot get this to work, is there a way I can put >> certain characters somewhere in the menu so I can select them from >> there when I need them? >> >> Thanks, >> Catherine > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that > the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and > worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security > strategy. 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