How do I get a special character on a netbook without a number pad?

Question

I'd like to be able to use a keyboard shortcut to type special characters (characters that can't be found on my keyboard) such as the £ (pound) symbol, which I can get on a keyboard with a number pad by typing Alt+0163. Unfortunately, on my netbook, I don't have a number pad.

How then do I get special characters, using the keyboard, without using charmap?

Answer 1

Often times, your netbook might have a function key which will change 7,8,9,U,I,O,J,K,L, and M into a number pad. You can use these to do Alt+ combinations. Alternatively, open the Character Map (Under Accessories in the start menu) to select individual characters.

Answer 2

I've been searching for weeks, and I finally figured out that I can enter the Unicode (not ASCII) code for a symbol, highlight it, and press Alt+X in Microsoft Word. To make it even faster, I created autocorrect entries to replace /b6 with ¶  and /a7 with §.

(I write for a judge, and I need to enter the above paragraph and section symbols 75 times each day. I run Windows 8 on a Lenovo Yoga 13 netbook (first computer without numpad), and I was lost without the Alt+numpad access to ASCII set until now!)

Reference: how do I insert ASCII characters without numeric key pad?

Answer 3

You can use some macro program like AutoHotkey to bind it to specified hotkeys.

Answer 4

You could download the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator and put the symbols you use most on unused keys. I use AltGr+Q, W, E & R for the symbols I need.

Answer 5

For web browsers, I just wrote a user script to address this for my own evil purposes, at least in Firefox with the Greasemonkey add-on and in Chrome with the Tampermonkey add-on.

GitHub page | Direct install | License

Unknown whether the script works in other browsers with Tampermonkey, but my guess is not fully. I might hack compatibility for other browsers if someone pays me enough.

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With the script installed in your browser, Alt+number row combinations should work like Alt+NumPad would on a full-size keyboard. Additionally, Alt+x will translate the hexadecimal value preceding the text caret into a Unicode value, similar to MS Office.

Extended characters begin with a zero:

• £ works with Alt+0163
• ° works with Alt+0176
• ² works with Alt+0178

For values between 32 - 255 without a leading zero, glyphs are retrieved using an OEM codepage table (with generous but unconsenting help from the SheetJS project's codepage abstractions). The following examples are made with codepage=437 (en-US) defined in the user script:

• Ω works with Alt+234 (no leading zero)
• ∞ works with Alt+236 (no leading zero)
• £ works with Alt+156 (no leading zero)

You can also type a hex value then hit Alt+x to perform the conversion. It works like MS Word, but with looser interpretation of the hex notation. My goal is that if you forget the proper way to activate an Alt+x sequence, just try something and it'll probably work as intended.

• ✓ results from typing 2713 then hitting Alt+x
• ✓ also results from typing 0x2713 then hitting Alt+x
• ✓ also results from typing \u2713 then hitting Alt+x
• ✓ also results from typing U+2713 then hitting Alt+x
• ✓ also results from typing 2713, highlighting it, then hitting Alt+x

Answer 6

1. The keypad on a laptop is located on keys

M-J-K-L-U-I-O-7-8-9
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2. You must engage the keypad. Find and hold the fn key and press the Num Lock key. On my laptop it is located on the Scroll Lock key. A little led bulb should light to show that the keypad function is engaged.
3. Now you can type in the alt symbols ALT + Fn + MJ89 = ½ symbol

Answer 7

You could change your keyboard layout to United States–International. It takes a little getting used to, but not so much as I had thought. Then you would make the £ symbol by depressing 4 (not on the number pad) + Shift + Right Alt. Also, if you type diacritical marks often, this layout is especially useful.

Answer 8

If you have a Windows operating system [such as Vista or 7 -- I'm not sure about XP] then you can use the Character Map. I actually discovered it by accident. Before then I thought my future laptop [that I plan to purchase] would require a numeric keypad, but now I guess I won't be needing it, thanks to the Character Map [I have Windows Vista, but plan to upgrade to Windows 7].

Answer 9

You can buy an external numeric pad as an alternative or use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. All laptops under 15 inch i've seen have that problem.

Answer 10

Relativity simple method that I use:

Invoke, then use the "Ease of Access" on-screen keyboard:

1. Go to CONTROL PANEL
2. Click on EASE OF ACCESS
3. Click on ON-SCREEN KEYBOARD
4. The default setting MIGHT have numpad on the keyboard. but if NOT, click "options" on the on-screen keyboard itself, and then tick "turn on numeric keypad" at the top.

VOILA......

Keep it minimized if you plan to use letters repeatedly.

Answer 11

If you don't have a numeric pad, i wrote a little program for this use. This is the program: AltPiuSend

Push "Win + R" keys and digit "shell:startup", copy the program here and reboot. On startup, i register 10 hotkey: Alt + 0...9 (number in keyboard, not in numeric pad). When you push "Alt + Number" keys in the keyboard, i send Alt + the same number of the numeric pad (virtual key). It's all.

The program is written in VB .NET 2010 Express and need Microsoft Framework 4.0. If you don't have installed Microsoft Framework 4.0, search for "Microsoft Framework 4.0 download" and download it from Microsoft site.

Answer 12

In lenovo g40, you just go to insert then go to symbol and you select the special character you need in your document.

Answer 13

It depends on your hardware, your operating system and the application you are using.

Some notebook PCs have a way of simulating a numeric keypad by using additional meta keys (Fn, Ctrl, Alt etc)

Some operating systems support alternative keyboard layouts or input method editors. For example I have a Windows PC with a UK keyboard (and hence no problem with £) in the system notification area I have a keyboard icon from which I can choose UK or UK-extended keyboards. The extended one lets me compose additional accented characters. Maybe there is an extended keyboard for your locale that supports a key combination for £.

Finally applications such as MS Word have their own means of inputting special characters - see the application help.

Answer 14

Charmap is good but if you have to use too often for the same character, it becomes tiring. In that case, you can use the following utility and put your often used characters on a custom menu in the order that you want. Then you can invoke this menu on any editor by Alt-Shift-C:

CatchChar custom menu utility

Answer 15

Same problem on a Laptop Inspiron 13 without NumLock (even the overlayed NumPad activated by Fn is absent), running Windows 10 pro.

ONLY solution that has worked for me is the AutoHotKey Script in this post: How to input special characters w/o numpad?

Follow the instructions, you'll see a small icon in the Windows Taskbar showing that the script is running. Solved.