Character map in vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter Maxine
  • Start date Start date
M

Maxine

I cannot get the correct symbol or character to show when I used the Alt +
code in Windows mail or in Microsoft Works. For example when I type
Alt+0162 which should be the 'cent' sign I get a smiley face. It only works
when I copy and paste to the document. How can I make it work using the
Alt+ command?
Thanks,
Maxine
 
Make sure your keyboard's Num Lock is "on", then
press & hold ALT and type in 0162 using only the Numeric
Keyboard.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I cannot get the correct symbol or character to show when I used the Alt +
code in Windows mail or in Microsoft Works. For example when I type
Alt+0162 which should be the 'cent' sign I get a smiley face. It only works
when I copy and paste to the document. How can I make it work using the
Alt+ command?
Thanks,
Maxine
 
Maxine said:
I cannot get the correct symbol or character to show when I used the
Alt + code in Windows mail or in Microsoft Works. For example when I
type Alt+0162 which should be the 'cent' sign I get a smiley face. It
only works when I copy and paste to the document. How can I make it
work using the Alt+ command?
Click to expand...

Could be a font issue - different fonts can have different symbols in
different places. What font are you using in Character Map, and what
font is Mail / Works using?
 
I checked and the num lock is 'on', pressed & held ALT and typed 0162 using
numeric keypad and this is what I get ☻ ( a smiley face). Any other
suggestions I can try?

Maxine
 
I checked and the num lock is 'on', pressed & held ALT and typed 0162
using numeric keypad and this is what I get ? ( a smiley face). Any
other suggestions I can try?
Click to expand...

I don't know what configurations you've set for your system, but your smiley
face as pasted into this message is certainly not what you should get with
ALT+0162.

Looking at the actual character in your posting I see that your smiley face
is Unicode character U263B, which is the negative smiley face in almost
every current Unicode-supporting font you're likely to find on a Windows
box. Similarly, ALT+0162 (also known as Unicode character U00A2) is the
cent sign in almost all fonts.

A fragment from your posting that includes the smiley is actually:

w+h+a+t+ +I+ +g+e+t+ + + +;& +(+ +a+ +s+m+i+l+e+y+

where '+' represents a zero byte (0x00). Note that your smiley is the only
character with both bytes nonzero; the cent sign would be 0xA200.

I would be inclined to look for some setting on your system that is
"helpfully" trying to convert emoticons into "art" glyphs, although I'm
hard-pressed to see how a cent sign maps to a negative smiley.

On my system entering ALT+0162 yields the expected ¢ glyph.

Joe Morris
 
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