Deelteken by "Alt" + "R"

In a recent article I mentioned how you could get alternative characters by using the "Alt" key and then typing the numbers on the Numeric Keypad. Adriaan asked in the comments section, how he could use the "Quick Key" he used previously, for example "Alt" + "R" for the "ë" character or the "deelteken" as referred to in Afrikaans.

Adriaan, I searched high and low and found a setup in your regional settings where you selected "English" as the language and "US International Keyboard" as the keyboard - you would get the á, é, í, ó and ú but not the "deelteken" characters.

The only solution I can find, which you will have to set this up once and then it will work from there on forwards - is to open the "Normal.Dot" template for Word and Outlook and then save them back once you have set the assigned keys in the "Insert" "Symbols" menu option. Then save the "Normal.Dot" file back.

The "Normal.Dot" file is found in:
Word 2010 - C:\users \"user name"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\
Word 2007 - C:\Documents and Settings\"user name"\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\

To get to the Symbols, go to the "Insert" menu and select "Symbol" - then choose "More Symbols" and find the character you need, assign a shortcut key, click "Assign".

Once the "Normal.Dot" file is saved the assigned keys will be there forever or until you reload MS Word.

NOTE:
Work very carefully with the "Normal.Dot" file any changes there will be the backbone of all of your workings in MS Word - open it blank, do the symbol setup and assign the keys and save it back as a blank file - Make sure you do nothing else.

I hope this is a solution to the "Alt" + "character". If anybody has any quicker solutions we would be very happy to hear from you in the comments section.

Comments

0 #10 Malcolm 2012-04-02 09:43

Quoting Siyanda:

Thank you Boet...this information is helpful. I have BB9900 :-)

Thanks for the compliment Siyanda - glad it was useful.

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0 #9 2012-03-30 22:47

Thank you Boet...this information is helpful. I have BB9900

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0 #8 2011-06-17 17:15

Thank you very much PIeter! Your solution worked on my BOLD! Nou sal my BBM's begin sin maak!

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0 #7 2011-03-18 12:08

Thanks for the Blackberry info, Pieter; if I write a SMS on my Blackberry, I get the è and é by holding the e and scrolling, but it still doesn't give me the ë or ê. When I write an email, though, I get the full range of characters.

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+1 #6 2011-03-18 12:00

Really easy I'm also afrikaans. So ek kort ook soms die "special characters" If i need an "ê" all you do is hold the e button in and scroll up or down. Same applies for ñ and ô, ö Works perfectly on my BB Torch

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0 #5 Malcolm 2011-02-07 16:45

@Michele - I have asked Blackberry again to see if they can find a solution for us.

I saw your answer to the Nokia being able to do the special keys, inserted for others to see as well:

"Thanks – I had no problem with Nokia; you just kept on pressing the “e” button and it changed through the whole range of “é, ë, è” etc.; same with all the other vowels. Not sure how the iPhone handles it, but I previously had an Ericson and LG, and had no problems with them, either."

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0 #4 Malcolm 2011-01-21 08:15

Dave, in a previous article we spoke about the key sequence you speak of, which works 100%, but we had a reader asking about the use of the old "Alt" + "Character" as he was used to it - so this to help those looking for the "other" way, if I can call it that.

Thanks for the feedback.

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0 #3 Malcolm 2011-01-21 08:12

Michele, I have asked BlackBerry South Africa to come back to us on this.

Shaun Hathrill from BlackBerry is looking into it for us, but he did say there was very limited support for Afrikaans.

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+1 #2 2011-01-18 09:30

Malcolm, when you use the US International keyboard (as I do) the deelteken is obtained by pressing the key for a quotation mark (shift-quote on my keyboard) followed by the "e" (or "o" or whatever) - ë. If you require the quote as such, just press the space bar after shift-quote.

I never have to resort to the "alt" list or try to remember any of these keystrokes .

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