Accented characters

ianjermyn · Guest

Hi.

I know this issue has been raised before in these forums, but I have not yet seen an adequate answer. I am on Windows 2000.

When I use MS Word, I can enter the most common accented characters by simultaneously hitting the Ctrl key and one of `'^,: followed by the letter. I do not know why this is possible, but it is relatively generic, that is, it occurs in other applications too. For example, it works in WinEdt, a text editor designed for use with Tex.

This procedure does not work in OO. I know I can use the insert character table, or numeric combinations, and maybe there are even more obscure techniques, but I do not want to use these. They are all either slow or difficult to remember or both, whereas the above procedure is fast and intuitive.

Does anyone know how can I make this behaviour occur in OO?

Thank you in advance,

Ian.

ftack · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 8:19 am Post subject:

What keyboard layout are you using? If it is an american querty, then you should switch to US International (Start - Settings - Control Panel - Keyboard - Input Locales). That allows you to enter accented characters using the ', ^ and ` keys, that will function as dead keys. For other symbols or anything you need to type repeatedly, use the autotext function. With autotext, you type a mnemonic followed by a press on F3 and the item is inserted. For example, alpha<F9> inserts the alpha sign.

ianjermyn · Newbie Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2

Hi.

Thank you for the swift reply. It helps, in that now, as you say, I can enter these three accents more rapidly, but the behaviour is far from ideal. The accents now become the default, whereas before they were an extra. Now, to type 'enter' (including the inverted commas), I have to use the space bar to prevent the first e from being accented. In addition, the cedilla is not available.

I am surprised: I have always used the shortcuts that I mentioned in my first post without thinking about it, and they have mostly worked, not just in MS Word but elsewhere (although it is true that I cannot make them work in PowerPoint, which is a source of frustration). Thus I have always assumed that they were somehow part of the furniture. Where are these shortcuts set? I did not think it was in each piece of software.

I guess, since you did not tell me how to make my shortcuts work in OO, that there is no way to make them work.

Thanks again,

Ian.

JOHAN DULAC · Newbie Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Posts: 2

Hi,
Regularly I read questions about this subject and I wonder why I never experienced a problem with accents (Umlaut etc.).
I am using a US international keyboard, my language setting is dutch. Since many years I can access accents in practically all Windows-programs (OpenOffice.org included) in the following way:

1. type the accent (use Shift+ " to get the Umlaut)
2. the cursor does not move
3. type the caracter you want the accent on and the result is e.g. ë
4. if you really need the accent, say " (to quote text) then you have to push the spacebar once
5. This works for ` (à), ' (é), ''(ä) , ^ (ô), ~ (ñ) and even for ç (use ' )

First I thought this feature only existed in the Durch versions of Windows, however it seems to work in other languages as well.

Success and I am quite interested to know if this method will work.
Regards
Johan Dulac

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ianjermyn · Newbie Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2

Hi. The method that you describe is the same as the one mentioned earlier in this subject. This method works well for people for whom the default usage is the accent. However, this is not true for me. I write mostly in English and sometimes in French. I would ilke the standard use of, for example, ', to remain the same, and to use another key to alter its function. What works for me now, in Word, in a text editor called WinEdt, and elsewhere, is that, for example, hitting:

Ctrl-'

followed by e produces an e with an acute accent. This means that accents are never activated when I am wriiting English, but remain easy to enter when writing French. Personally I find this meta-key approach preferable to the method you describe even when I am writing French, but that is a more subjectve point.

Since I have never 'switched on' this behaviour, I do not know whether it is a functionality of individual applications (it does not work in PowerPoint for example) or of the OS (keyboard set-up etc.). In particular, I do not know how to obtain this functionality in OO.

Best,

Ian.

Gabor · Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 11:46 am Post subject: suggestions

I can suggest only workarounds but they work.

One is to use macros and assign them to key combos allowed by OOo.

I do emphasize that this below is not my invention, I copied the original rom Andrew C. Brown's collection which you can find here:

http://www.darwinwars.com/lunatic/bugs/oo_macros.html

Here are some examples I created for myself: