This is how to enter any Unicode character in Microsoft Windows.
There are definitely other (more efficient) ways to do it, but this should work in a pinch.
I tested this on Windows XP and Windows 2003. If you try it on earlier versions, let me know what you find out and I'll update this document.
This method works regardless of any of your language settings, but is the most cumbersome to type.
- Press and hold down the
Alt
key.- Press the
+
(plus) key on the numeric keypad.- Type the hexidecimal unicode value.
- Release the
Alt
key.Alas, this appears to require a registry setting. It was already set on my computer, but some readers report that this method didn't work for them, and this is probably why. If you don't know what the registry is, please don't try this. Under
HKEY_Current_User/Control Panel/Input Method
, set EnableHexNumpad to "1". If you have to add it, set the type to beREG_SZ
.
This method depends on the specific input language you are using.
- Press and hold down the
Alt
key.- Type
0
(zero) and the decimal unicode value on the numeric keypad.- Release the
Alt
key.You can see which input language you are using (and which are installed) by:
- Start Menu
- Settings
- Control Panel
- Regional and Language Options
- Languages tab
- Detail button
The entries in the Unicode character information section are using the Windows Latin 1 input language.
This method depends on the specific code page you have installed.
- Press and hold down the
Alt
key.- Type the decimal codepage value on the numeric keypad. Do not type any leading zeros.
- Release the
Alt
key.You can see which code page you have by typing
chcp
at a command prompt. Check the grid for your code page from the list of known code pages to see what characters you can enter this way.The entries in the Unicode character information section are using code page 437.
Applications can support their own methods. These are not standardized.
Several Microsoft applications, including WordPad and Microsoft Word:
press Alt-X after typing some hex digits. You see the digits as you type them, and they're replaced by the Unicode equivalent. Pressing Alt-X again converts it back to numbers.
Microsoft has a Unicode Input Method ?Editor? that works the same way my UnicodeInput pop-up
does, but with LeftAlt Shift
as the trigger key.
Michael Kaplan, a Microsoft i18n guru, has the details on how the Unicode IME works. Some notes to fill in some details that he assumes:
Chinese (Taiwan)
(Others would probably work too) and choose Chinese (Traditional) - Unicode
.LeftAlt Shift
to switch into the IME (taskbar shows CH
).LeftAlt Shift
to switch out of the IME (taskbar shows your original language code).