What is probably a really stupid question

[Aragarthiel]

I use keyboard shortcuts all the time for classwork. That is, unless they're any of the Alt + [code] shortcuts. I've never been able to get those to work. Right now I'm working in Excel, typing out notes for my pre-cal class, and I have to use the symbol for pi a lot. The code for it is 03C0 (or so says the Symbols dialog box), but when I hold Alt and type that in with my laptop's number pad, I get nothing. When I use the numbers at the top of the keyboard, I get my laptop making its "rejection" noise (you know, that ding when you do something it registers as invalid, such as trying to backspace in an empty field on a form).

I've been trying to figure this out for years and I'm finally fed up with it. What am I doing wrong?

[TheSHAD0W]

(1) Try turning Num Lock on or off.

(2) Try it in Wordpad, to make sure Excel isn't eating them for some reason.

(3) Consider buying a cheap full-size USB keyboard, it's usually a lot more comfortable than a laptop keyboard.

[EricKei]

HOLD alt, type the code on the numberpad *with* NumLock on, release ALT, in that order. ALT codes, afaik, only contain numbers.

e.g.. try ALT with 0150 for an Em Dash: –

Thing is, that only applies to ALT codes, and pi doesn't have one ... 03C0 is its Unicode entry. In charmap, Unicode entries are on the left (on the very bottom of the window), and ALT codes, for the characters that have them, are on the right.

For the ones that need letters like pi, I just use CharacterMap (in Control panel or just hit WIN+R and type charmap to bring it up). I use it often enough that I pinned it to my Taskbar

[Aragarthiel]

Unfortunately CharacterMap doesn't work with my math program for some reason, but I didn't know Unicode wasn't the name of the Alt key thing.

Some googling and pi is Alt+227, and the radical symbol (the other big one I was using this chapter) is Alt+251.

So I was just trying to use the wrong codes all this time. For years.

Thanks though!

[Chromatix]

Meanwhile on my Mac, I only have to type Option-P for π, and Option-Shift-8 for °.

If there's a way to make the keyboard work the Mac way on Windows and/or Linux, I would like to know.

[Aragarthiel]

You could probably find a way to configure certain keyboard shortcuts to respond the same way but you'd have to do them one at a time, and possibly for each different program you'd want to use them in. I know I've played with keyboard shortcuts before (because why is there no longer a strikethrough button in Word), but I'm not sure if there's a way to do it in the OS.

[It's me]

You can get addins that make it easy to type special characters. One of them for Windows is Wincompose, and there are ones for Mac as well.

[EricKei]

Odd. 227 gives me ã and 251 yields û o_O

Maybe math equation programs have their own special subset of ALT codes? Oh well. ^_^

Chro -- At least in word processors, you can always set the program's auto-correct to replace stuff for you on the fly, within certain limits. To use Ara's example, you could tell it to replace PI with the actual symbol for pi, and so on.

[Chromatix]

Auto-correct tends to get in my way - I end up disabling it all over the place.

Rather, I'm talking specifically about the Mac's intuitive use of Option shortcuts for commonly used symbols and accents. I know it's technically possible, I just haven't found a ready-to-use template which actually does it.

[RealUnimportant]

Even if CharMap doesn't talk nicely to your math program, you should be able to use it to put the character into the paste buffer, or worst case use it to put the character into an empty Notepad document and then cut/paste from there - you could even keep a document filled with the special characters you need, and just open it in the background. I'd use Notepad rather than Word/Wordpad because they would add in special formatting such as font styles/sizes as well, which could get problematic.