Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2018 March 16

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March 16

Using special symbols in Microsoft Word

When I want to use special symbols in Microsoft Word, I hit "Insert" and then scroll through a lot of symbols until I find the one that I want. I had asked a somewhat related question on the Math Reference Desk. (Here: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics#Symbol for "Real Numbers" in Microsoft Word.) Many of the replies refer to a "Unicode". What does that Unicode have to do with Microsoft Word? In other words, if I do know the specific Unicode for a specific symbol, how exactly do I use that information in Microsoft Word to actually insert the symbol? Thanks. 32.209.55.38 (talk) 18:33, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Unicode is the encoding used to represent characters internally in almost all modern software. In Microsoft Word, you can enter a specific Unicode character by typing the hexadecimal code (for example, "211d" for the double-struck R), then press Alt-X. CodeTalker (talk) 19:07, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Thanks! Never knew that! 32.209.55.38 (talk) 04:51, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

Is that trick also available in the Mac version? The keystroke would differ. —Tamfang (talk) 23:51, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

• Note that Unicode is not an encoding. It is a single, very large, character set intended to be useful for all characters needed, for all situations, and simultaneously. It is a list of code points (the numbers we discuss) which map to the glyphs needed.

To store Unicode characters in a file, it is necessary to encode them into an encoding such as UTF-8 or UTF-16. Other encodings are possible and there are detail variations within this (such as whether a "BOM" is used), but these are the main two. For Windows it is usual to use UTF-16 within programs, but UTF-8 when stored in files. These are mostly invisible to the user, certainly if you're using Word, and most programs hide these details well. However when exchanging files, it's not enough to specify "Unicode", but also that the encodings are the same, or at least compatible.

If in doubt, use Unicode with a UTF-8 encoding using a BOM. Andy Dingley (talk) 00:07, 19 March 2018 (UTC)